The Tech Whiz And The Former Grunch (The Multi-Chapter Version)
by Fanfic-Reader-88
Summary: The revised, multi-chapter version of "The Tech Whiz And The Former Grunch". What happens when everybody's favorite technical producer meets up with a waitress who nobody used to like, and that he hasn't seen in a while? Rated M for sexual content and language. Reader discretion is advised.
1. The Couch And The Diner

**"The Tech Whiz And The Former Grunch"**

**A **_**iCarly**_**/**_**Victorious**_** crossover, written by Fanfic-Reader-88**

**Pairing: Freddie/Trina**

**Rated M for language and sexual content later in the story**

**Disclaimer:**

**With the exception of Hungry's Sports Bar and Diner, Hi-Def Vision, "SportsMinute", SaveHut, Angeles Village Apartments, 206 Film And Graphics, "The Next Great Designer", "CFC Unrestricted", Adrenaline TV, Stephanie Rodriguez, "Knuckles" Rogers, "CFC Championship Saturday", Pencils Stadium, Rock-Tarts, Orangefly's, The Naked Longhorn, Spartan "Almost Raw" Condoms, McArthur's and The Grub Village, I don't own anything, anywhere or anybody.**

**Author's Note:**

**What's up? If you didn't notice, I'm Fanfic-Reader-88, longtime reader and reviewer, and now, first-time writer. **

**Regardless of what kind of feedback I receive for this story, this may be my only fanfic, at least for these two shows. I just needed to write something before the **_**iCarly**_** and **_**Victorious**_** fandoms completely died down. And for various reasons, I decided to do so with a Freddie/Trina pairing.**

**Again, this is my first (and maybe only) fanfic, so excuse and forgive me if this story seems hard to believe, like it's missing something, or if it's just not good. Positive reviews are welcome. Negative ones are welcome too, if they're constructive criticism. Simply saying "you suck" is a waste of time. **

**So, without further "to do", I give you my story, "The Tech Whiz And The Former Grunch". Hope you enjoy it.**

**Los Angeles, California**

**Friday September 1, 2017**

**Sometime around 8PM**

In his apartment, with a glimpse of sunlight still beaming through his living room window, Freddie Benson was sitting on the edge of his couch, and at the moment, he found himself as the lucky recipient of a make-out session with a sexy waitress that he had met earlier in the day. Better yet, the Seattle native/former technical producer of iCarly/Ridgeway High and University Of Washington graduate was actually somewhat familiar with the young woman who was practically sticking her tongue down his throat.

Oddly enough, the female in question was Trina Vega: Los Angeles-area native, Hollywood Arts High School graduate, aspiring actress and model, older sister of Tori Vega, and currently, as Freddie found out, waitress at Hungry's Sports Bar and Diner. Much to his and other people's surprise, she had came a long way from being the girl who was obsessed with fame, completely untalented (according to others), self-centered, and according to old-enemy-turned-friend Jade West, a person that nobody liked.

The evident change in Trina's personality was part of why, in the space of nine hours, she and Freddie were now not only reunited friends, but also potential lovers, or at least sex partners, which was about to happen in the immediate future. A friendship that had started six years ago during a party at Kenan Thompson's house, and had been somewhat resurrected earlier in the day at Hungry's, was now turning physical inside of Freddie's apartment, and it all started earlier that morning.

**(Friday morning)**

Freddie had woke up at 9AM, suprisingly early due to the fact that he had the day off as a early start to the Labor Day weekend, and also because he had spent the night before hanging out and partying.

Because of the following holiday weekend, and his recent success at Hi-Def Vision (the production company where Freddie worked), he and some of his co-workers/friends went to a local bar, where they indulged in drinking, game playing and game watching, as well as engaging in activity with the opposite sex. Freddie's luck was particularly decent, as he had talked with various women, and he even managed to score a phone number or two.

Back to present times, after his morning workout, a shower, and tackling other hygiene matters, Freddie got dressed. After throwing on a white T-shirt, khaki-colored cargo shorts, and the usual pair of black-and-white Converses, he headed out to go on with his day.

After paying bills and handling other affairs, it was almost 11AM, and Freddie was hungry for some breakfast, or lunch - whichever one was being served at the place where he decided to eat. He didn't want to go to the usual fast-food joints, but going home to cook wasn't an option at the moment, since he wasn't afforded many choices in his fridge, and his trip to the grocery store wasn't planned until later in the day.

Suddenly, he thought of Hungry's, the new place that had opened not too far from his apartment just a few months back. He hadn't been there yet, but from what he had heard, it was already a popular place to eat and hang out. The food was the biggest draw, and unlike other bars and diners, Hungry's gave their customers the options to either dine in, pick up food for take-out, or to have it delivered. It didn't hurt that the restaraunt's hours were extended on the weekend, and that inside, there were TV's and a room designated as an arcade, which was a big deal for young customers, and older customers who had families.

But at that moment, all Freddie wanted was to eat, and with that in mind, he drove off on his way to Hungry's to fulfill that want.

Once inside, he went to a seat at the main counter and sat down. Almost immediately, a man slightly taller than him, with a haircut similar to what Freddie had sported in his younger day, approached him.

"Welcome to Hungry's Sports Bar and Diner. How may I help you?" the man had asked.

"Hi, uh, I'm here to eat in for... is it breakfast or lunch right now?" Freddie wondered.

"It's lunch, sir. Lunchtime begins at 10:30 every morning. But anyway, here's a menu. Just take your time, find out what you want. One of the waiters or waitresses will be with you shortly. Enjoy your meal, sir."

"Thank you," Freddie replied. Not long after opening his menu, he decided to order a chicken sandwich with fries and a glass of root beer. While waiting for his order to be taken, he noticed the small crowd, and the other customers being attended to by the waiters.

On each employee's shirt, "Hungry's" was written in big, bold cursive font normally found on sports jerseys. All the shirts were in different colors, and male employees all had on normal short-sleeved shirts. Female employees' shirt styles varied. Some were wearing short sleeves like the men, and others were wearing the shirts either with the sleeves rolled up or cut off, or they had wore tank tops. Some of the women were even bold enough to tie the bottom of their shirts in knots, clearly with the purpose of showing themselves off in mind.

In the short time of waiting for someone to take his order, he managed to take in a segment or two of "SportsMinute", and he even exchanged a couple of friendly and flirtatious "helloes" and "hi's" with some of the waitresses. But eventually, he noticed another woman in the diner, a brunette with a white tank top that had "Hungry's" written in red with black outline. That was only the beginning of Freddie's observation.

On top of the jet-black hair, the young woman also had brown eyes, along with a slim but curvaceous build that included nice-sized breasts and amazing legs. Along with her Hungry's shirt, she had short black jean shorts on, and a pair of Converses much like Freddie's. He hadn't yet realized that Trina was the object of his attention, and she wasn't aware of him either. But that was soon about to change.

"Hi, and welcome to Hungry's. May I take your order?"

"Yeah, I'd like a chicken sandwich and fries, and a root beer, please."

"And would you like that fried or grilled? Wait. Are you Freddie?"

"Uh yeah, I - I'm Freddie Benson, from iCarly. I don't - "

"I know that you're from iCarly! Everybody knows!" Trina exclaimed. "You don't remember me?!"

"Not right away, uh... Hold on. Trina Vega?"

"Yeah," the waitress replied, her voice filled with happiness mixed with surprise. "You... what brings you to L.A.?"

"I actually live here, for the last year now. You work here?"

"Yeah, I do. I got hired when the diner first opened. Wow, it, it's good to see you again, Freddie."

"Thanks, it's good to see you too, Trina."

After a brief silence, Trina was snapped back to reality, and she remembered why she was originally talking to Freddie to begin with.

"So, back to your order. You uh, you wanted a chicken sandwich, fries and root beer, right?"

"Yes, that's... that's my order."

"Fried or grilled?"

"Uh, grilled."

"Sure. Grilled chicken it is." Trina noticed on one of the clocks that it was 11:20, and as a result, it was almost time for her break. Feeling ambitious, she thought that this was a chance to catch up with a old friend over lunch. She then took the opportunity by saying, "hey Freddie, I have a couple more orders to get to, and by then, your food should be ready, and it should be time for my break. So, I was hoping maybe we could... have lunch together?"

"Yeah, sure. That, that sounds good," Freddie responded. While both Freddie and Trina were happy to see each other again, both of them were feeling a slight sense of nervousness around themselves and the other person.

"See you in a few minutes, then."

"Okay, later." With that, Freddie remained in his seat as Trina handled his order, and those of other customers. Before she was totally out of sight, though, he noticed the way certain body parts moved as she walked away. When he saw how she strutted into the kitchen, he thought to himself, 'well alright, Trina' as she had done so. He was unaware that later that night, he would get to observe her body again.

At 11:55, he had watched Trina walk away with a tray that had four plates of food placed on it. Freddie had thought that his plate was there, and the other three belonged to other people. He was right, because along with his and the other customers' food and drink, Trina had been carrying her own lunch on the tray: a veggie burger with fries and iced tea. Once she gave the other customers their lunch, she went to the counter where Freddie sat. After laying their lunches on the counter, she realized that before joining him, she needed to return the tray.

"Let me just put this back, and I'll get with you in a second." Sure enough, when she was done, she had walked back to her seat at the counter next to Freddie. But as Trina did so, she took a second to notice how he had developed over the years, a sign that puberty wasn't quite through with him when he left Ridgeway.

First, there was the matter of a new, shorter haircut that Freddie had. All of his hair was still very much in place, but now he wore it in a sort of butch-cut pattern. He also acquired a slightly thick circle beard, which he had grown out over the last few months. What caught Trina's eyes the most though, was when she noticed how Freddie had gained a stronger, more muscular build. He wasn't like a bodybuilder, nightclub bouncer or a gym rat who may have had a case of "'roid rage". But she, like anyone who knew Freddie or knew about him, was well aware that he was significantly bigger than he was in his teenage years. Then finally, she saw traces of ink underneath his shirt sleeve, which indicated that he has tattoos. Just as she got closer to her seat next to him, she quickly licked her lips, and in that moment, she heard herself say in her head, 'I want some of him,' not knowing she would have an opportunity to get "some of him" in the next eight hours or so.

Realizing that she needed to pull herself together, Trina blinked sharply to snap out of her daze. But the feeling of her recent thoughts still lingered, and she understood it would take a serious deal of self-control to avoid taking Freddie somewhere private and doing things that were only normally seen in the average adult flick, something she might risk doing if she was still her old self.

Finally, she was at her seat, and the only thing left to do at the moment was to rid herself of hunger, and to catch up with the boy, or rather, young man, who ventured into Los Angeles the summer before.

"Hey," she greeted as she sat down. "Is something wrong with your food?"

"Oh, uh, no. Nothing's wrong with it. I just thought I'd wait to eat until you got here," he responded.

"Well, that was awfully considerate of you," she said in a slightly joking manner. But in her mind, Trina was urged to wonder where Freddie, or someone like him, had been during her days at Hollywood Arts, and in the rare occasions she had dated since then.

After taking a sip from her tea that washed down the first bites of her veggie burger, Trina noticed Freddie was still experiencing his first taste of the chicken sandwich he ordered. "So what do you think?"

As the taste of the sandwich kicked in, once he finshed the bite, he responded with, "wow, this is pretty good."

"You like it?"

"Yeah. Now I can see why this place is such a big deal. I might need to come here more often."

"I'm sure my boss would love to hear that." As the pair continued to eat, Trina felt it was high time to get to the reunion part of their lunch. "So, you really live here now?"

"Yeah, I do. I actually moved here a little over a year ago."

"Really? That's good to hear. So is it for work, starting over, or did you just get tired of Seattle?"

"Haha, no. I found a job, or maybe the job found me, a couple of months after I graduated from Washington."

"They thought of you as a top prospect, I take it?"

"Yeah, they did."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do?" Trina pondered between bites.

"I work at Hi-Def Vision. Among other things, I do web and graphic design."

"I heard of them, they're a big deal around town. Probably a bigger deal now since you work there."

Freddie smirked and chuckled at Trina's statement, then stated, "No, I think they would be just fine, even if I wasn't there."

"Now come on. Even I know how well you do with computers and a camera."

"Maybe that's true, but still..." Beginning to grow tired of talking about himself, Freddie wanted to know more about the woman who once seemed determined to be the biggest star that ever existed.

"Alright, enough about me. I think it's time we talked about you. How'd you end up here at Hungry's?"

"Well, among other things, I needed a steady job. I didn't wanna ask anybody for money to get through life, and as it turns out, Hollywood wasn't as ready for me as I thought they were. So long story short, I became a waitress."

"Nothing wrong with being self-sufficient, I guess. So did you give up on acting and singing altogether?"

"No, I didn't give up on it, I just... I just don't put all of my hopes into it anymore."

Upon hearing Trina's update on her life, he sensed a bit of frustration, and even a bit of sadness in her voice.

"Did you ever get any parts?"

"Yeah, I did, every now and again. I had some parts as an extra, and while we still went to Hollywood Arts, I had been on this Spanish-language comedy show for a few episodes. I even had a few modeling gigs here and there. But nothing big's come up yet."

"I - I'm sorry, Trina. I mean, it's good that you've been able to do what you've done, but... I know that you were set on being a big star."

Even with the lack of face-to-face interaction over the years since the party and Tori's play, Freddie knew enough about Trina to understand how obsessed with fame she was, or at least had been.

"For so long, I asked myself and wondered what it might be that's keeping me from getting a breakthrough. Is it because I'm not as talented as I thought? Is my lack of success some type of payback from GOD for the way I used to act? Or am I just not supposed to be famous?"

Somewhat unsure of what to say that might make Trina feel better, Freddie finally felt that honesty, kindness and humor mixed together could help.

"Look, you are talented, and even if it takes a long time, you could make it. Just keep practicing, maybe take some more acting and singing lessons. Definitely keep your ego in check. If you do that, then who knows? Maybe one day, you could be an award-winning actress... or at least somebody's go-to woman if they need a hot mom in some new movie or cheesy sitcom."

Trina laughed and gave Freddie a soft punch after hearing the last part of his pep talk. "Haha, very funny, Benson." For a few seconds after, she reflected on his advice and felt a sense of gratitude and relief knowing that someone saw potential in her, even if she had lost sight of it herself.

"Seriously, I do thank you for what you just said," she added. "It's nice to know somebody still believes in me."

"You're welcome. But I doubt I'm the only one who believes in you."

The sudden votes of confidence from Freddie had lifted Trina's spirits. As he lifted his hand to grab his root beer, she again noticed some ink under his sleeve, this time on his right arm. Her newfound mood, along with a sense of curiosity caused her to break her silence.

"Okay, 'Mr. Tech Producer', tell me something. What's with the tattoos?"

"How'd you know about my tattoos?" he asked with a look of surprise.

"I kind of noticed them when your shirt sleeves came up whenever you moved your arms. So what about 'em?"

"Well, the stuff on my right arm, I got it a couple of weeks before graduation last year. It was sort of a present to myself. Then my left arm, that was done a few months ago."

Freddie then went on to explain in detail about the half-sleeves he had acquired in the last year. The work on his right arm consisted of a portrait of Jesus on the shoulder area of his arm, and underneath on his bicep, there was an angel dressed in a robe posing in a praying motion. On the inside of his bicep, there was a black cross with black-and-gray shaded praying hands and a ribbon surrounding it. And inside of the ribbon, Freddie's last name BENSON was written in all caps.

On his left arm, there was a vast collection of ink paying tribute to his hometown of Seattle and his new residence of Los Angeles. His shoulder contained a sketch of a bulldog head, in honor of his days at Ridgeway. At the start of his bicep, it consisted of the Seattle Mariners "S", the Los Angeles Dodgers "L.A.", and the University of Washington "W". The remainder of his outside bicep was filled with another angel. But unlike the one on his right arm, it came in the form of a curvaceous woman facing her right who appeared to be nude, and had her hand covering her breasts. Above her left hip, the angel had her own ink: the words "City Of Angels", which served as the common nickname for Los Angeles. The inside of his bicep was covered with a set of comedy and tragedy masks, better known as a "Laugh Now, Cry Later" tattoo, something not too hard to find on someone in L.A.

And on the back of each of his arms above his elbows, when they were read together were the words SINCE 1994, which paid honor to the year he was born.

"So what made you do it?" Trina asked, greatly interested in his collection of body art.

"Well, one of my roommates at Washington, he drew a lot of different stuff, mainly just for fun, but also because he took art classes which were part of his major, graphic design. While we were there, a good number of people decided to get tattoos, people who lived in our dorms. They knew that he was this great artist, so they would go to him for tattoo designs, either because they couldn't find any art they liked on their own, or because they liked his art better than what they had found.

So eventually, after seeing different pictures online and in magazines, I started to get interested in tattoos myself, and after doing some thinking, I wanted to get one... or a few. Then when I figured out what I wanted, I went to the shop where my roommate went. And as you see, the rest is history."

"And the stuff on your left arm, you got it a few months ago?"

"Yeah. I wanted to get some more, and I got the idea to have something about where I've been and where I live, so all the stuff about Seattle and L.A. found its way unto my arm."

"Are you getting anymore?"

"If I really want one, and if I find something I truly like, I might. Right now though, I'm just sticking to what I already have."

Beginning to laugh as she realized how overprotective Mrs. Benson had been in the past from what she had heard, Trina then asked Freddie, "so what does your mom think?"

"Well, she was shocked. Definitely a little disappointed, but then she backed off. She told me even though she wasn't happy about it, it was my body, and I was a grown man, so I could do what I want. She just hoped I didn't turn into a person whose whole body was full of ink. It was a lot better than what happened in 8th grade at Ridgeway."

"You got a tattoo in 8th grade?!" Trina was greatly surprised at the end of Freddie's story. Luckily, she hadn't been eating or drinking anything, otherwise it would have been on the floor, or she would have choked on it.

"Yeah, I did," he responded, slightly chuckling at her shock. "It's a long story, a long horrible story, and needless to say, my mom freaked out back then. Maybe when I get a chance, I'll explain it in full detail."

"Good, because I'm wondering how you went through getting a tattoo at 13."

Freddie continued to eat his lunch, and Trina ate hers after the story. While doing so, he noticed something on her waist as she moved in her seat. Realizing what it was, he took the opportunity to question the waitress about her own body art.

"Not the only one with tattoos at this counter, now am I?"

Almost confused at the former technical producer's statement, Trina realized what he was talking about and blushed, knowing that he saw her ink.

"Yeah. You saw that, huh?"

"So what are they?" Freddie asked after nodding his head yes.

"Nothing really, just some girly stuff." Trina quickly looked around to make sure there wasn't anyone watching them or looking as if they could be doing so. When she saw that all eyes except Freddie's were off of her, she slowly lifted up the bottom of her shirt, which showed off the left side of her waist. Just above her shorts was a small trail of butterflies and flowers along with a few stars. After a few seconds had passed, Trina asked Freddie what he thought.

"It looks pretty good." Freddie was truly interested in her artwork, and he wasn't lying about what he had said. But in his mind, he was wondering what the rest of her looked like in the flesh, without her work uniform, or any other clothes for that matter. That thought, along with what he had already seen, was almost enough to send him over the edge. Fortunately, he had gained a sense of how to keep his cool around attractive women, something he had to acquire in light of all the years he spent with Carly, among other things.

When he asked her when she had got the tattoo, she explained that it was soon after she left Hollywood Arts, as sort of a spur-of-the-moment move. That particular design, according to her, symbolized beauty and star power, both of which she thought she had at the time. She then said that she kept the tattoo because she understood that beauty wasn't just about how she looked, but also about how she acted and how she treated others.

From the little bit he knew about Trina, Freddie took this as a sign of growth, because her mentality was nothing like that when he met her, her sister and their friends over six years ago. Nice, maybe. But considerate? Caring? Not really.

It was nearly 12:30 in the afternoon, and the both of them had finished their lunches, with only the rest of their drinks remaining. When those were finished, Trina noticed the time, and that she had to get back to work.

"It's been fun seeing you again and catching up with you. But my break's almost over, and duty calls, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand. I should probably get going too. I have a few things to do before I get back home."

"Okay. Maybe you can come back soon, and we coud talk over lunch again?"

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Good. So, see you soon then."

"Later, Trina." Just when she was gonna walk away, Freddie thought of not wanting to wait until his next trip to Hungry's to see Trina again. So in that instant, he decided to make a vital move.

"Trina, wait," he called out to her as she began to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Are you doing anything this weekend?"

"Uh, I may be going to see Tori and my parents on Monday, but that's about it, I think. Why?"

"Well, it's just... I wanted to talk to you again, and I wasn't sure when I would be back here, so I was thinking that we could talk or even hang out some time."

Sensing what Freddie was suggesting, even though he hadn't asked outright, Trina started to smile and questioned him.

"Do you want my phone number?"

"Yeah, sure. Do you... Do you want mine?"

"Would I be giving you mine if I didn't want yours?"

"Good point." With that, Trina typed her number into Freddie's phone, while he wrote his on a napkin since she didn't have hers at the moment because of her shift. Before finally returning to work, Trina went to hug Freddie, which he gladly accepted and returned. As she stepped away, she urged him to call her sometime. He told her he would, and as she began to leave, she waved goodbye to him, and he had done the same, and when the exchange was over, she went back to work, and he left out of the diner.

**(Continued in chapter 2.)**


	2. My New Neighbor

**As the afternoon went on**, Freddie had been to the local SaveHut to stock up on groceries, especially on things he may have needed for the upcoming holiday. He also grabbed a few movies, both new and old, that he planned to watch in his spare time. After the trip to SaveHut, and stopping to get gas at the nearby station, which also led to a brief encounter with one of his co-workers at Hi-Def Vision, he was finally on his way back home.

At around 4PM, Freddie pulled into Angeles Village Apartments, the place he called home for the past year. It wasn't as ritzy or spacious as his old stomping grounds of Bushwell Plaza, but it was a solid starting place for someone not too far removed from his college days.

After going to a small room near his building's stairway to grab a cart to haul his bags from SaveHut, and then grabbing the few pieces of mail he had that day, Freddie caught the elevator up to his apartment to unload the material. Once everything was put away, he went down to return the cart, and also to make sure that his car was locked, then made his way back to his apartment, which ironically was on the 8th floor, just like his old home in Seattle.

Not too long before Freddie got back to his apartment, a young woman had gotten off the elevator to her own residence which was just down the hall. When he left another elevator and headed to his right twice towards apartment 810, he was unaware of the female just down the hall in 804. And it may have stayed that way if he hadn't heard his name.

"Freddie?"

Right when he was about to open his door, he turned to his left and noticed that the woman down the hall was actually Trina.

"Hey, Trina. What are you doing here?" He was shocked and amazed to see her for quite a few reasons. Mainly, he was surprised by the simple fact that they lived not only in the same apartment complex, but also on the same floor. Since their encounter at Hungry's, it was also a surprise to Freddie that he was getting an opportunity to see Trina again so fast. He was also wondering how she lived in the apartment since she was a waitress, but he decided to forget about it at that moment.

"Hi Freddie," Trina greeted as she made it near his door.

"Hi. Do you live here?"

"Yeah, I moved here when I got back to L.A. a couple of years ago."

"You actually left?" Freddie asked, not aware of the escape that she made from her hometown a few years earlier.

"I'll explain it later. So uh, do you wanna hang out?"

"Sure. Should I come over to your place, or do you wanna stay here?"

"We could hang here. You know, if you don't mind," Trina responded.

"Would I be inviting you in if I did mind?" Trina began to laugh at Freddie's answer, as she remembered that she said almost exactly the same thing when they were trading cell numbers at Hungry's. "Give me a second to change and put away my stuff, and I'll come by as soon as I'm done."

"Alright then. See you in a little while." Freddie went in his apartment, and Trina walked back to hers. In the brief stretch of time while they were separated, both of them dwelled on the events that led up to the current situation.

Between the bit of a past the two did have, running into each other and eating lunch together at Hungry's, and now finding out that they lived in the same apartment building, better yet, on the same floor, it was enough to amaze them, even if it was only slightly. Then both of their minds went back to the thoughts they had about each other earlier in the day before and during lunch. Neither one of them realized it, but what they presented to each other visually was having an effect on the other person physically and mentally. Something else that they didn't know was that the feeling of desire and lust they shared would be put to the test in a few hours, and it would take up a great amount of time.

Finally out of her work clothes and into another outfit, Trina noticed that emotion was threatening to drive her over the edge. As she walked out of the apartment and locked the door, she had to remind herself to keep her cool, even if she felt like doing the total opposite.

"Keep it together, Trina," she scolded herself. "He's just a man. A gorgeous, handsome piece of man, but still, he's just a man."

After taking a deep breath - and a few seconds to pull herself together, Trina knocked on Freddie's door. On the other side, the same nervousness that she wrestled with just moments earlier was now bugging him. When he had heard her knocking, he was practically ready to run to the door. However, that idea was put in check as he got up from one of the stools near his kitchen counter on his way to the door.

"Relax, Benson," he reminded himself quietly. "It's just Trina. She's a old friend, she's a neighbor... who's also really hot."

After making a last-ditch effort to calm his nerves, Freddie finally twisted the doorknob to let Trina in. Whatever calm he felt right before he had opened the door almost disappeared just as fast when he saw her standing in the hallway. The white Hungry's top was replaced with a red tank top, and instead of the black shorts, there was a pair of cut-off blue jean shorts. The Converses from earlier in the afternoon were switched with black flip-flops. And had he not heard his name, he could have easily been distracted with observing her body all over again.

"Hey, Freddie."

"Hi, Trina. Come in."

"Thank you." As she walked past him and stepped into his living room, Freddie once again took the chance of looking her up and down, like he had done before at Hungry's. On top of the usual things like her legs, breasts, hair, waist and butt, he somehow noticed the black nail polish that covered her fingernails and toenails. He normally didn't pay attention to things like that, but yet for whatever reason, Trina's looks, and the conversation he had with her at lunchtime, had just about reawakened something inside of Freddie that made him think he was in the presence of somebody special. Something that he had only felt with his longtime crush on Carly, and maybe, keyword "maybe", the brief period of time he dated Sam.

After spending some time to ogle over the features of the oldest Vega sister, Freddie finally went to join Trina in his living room. He still felt himself being somewhat dazed in her presence, but he did as much as he could to keep from turning into a bumbling idiot. Little did he know that she was fighting the same battle while checking out the ex-"iCarly" techie's habitat.

"This is a nice place, Freddie," she told him as she looked around his living room.

"Thanks. Glad you like it." A good look around his place would show that while he had just recently left college, his apartment also suggested the touch of someone slightly older. True to his past, there was a computer, a video game system, and the usual flat-screen, along with a few items of sports memorabilia. There was also a small binder-sized copy of the promotional poster for _Galaxy Wars _ that was on the wall between the TV and the computer. But also on his wall in more prominent form were three other large picture frames. In two of the frames were pictures of the Seattle and Los Angeles skylines. But the biggest picture frame, which was next to the media cabinet, consisted of something more personal. Inside of that, there were pictures from his past, distant and recent both included.

Those pictures showed Freddie from his childhood all the way up to now, by himself and with family members and friends. A few of them were from his time at U-Dub (University of Washington), and more recently, his early days in L.A. But of course, many of the pictures were from his Bushwell/Ridgeway/"iCarly" days, and obviously that meant that Mrs. Benson, Carly, Sam, Gibby and Spencer were in the pictures. There were even some with T-Bo and Colonel Shay when he briefly came to visit before taking Carly to Italy.

But one picture that stood out and caught Trina's eyes was a group shot that was taken at the party where they had met six years before. Along with the two of them, Carly, Sam, Tori, Jade, Beck, Cat, André, Gibby and Spencer were also in the shot, as well as Sikowitz and Sinjin.

"You actually put this picture up?"

"Yeah. Should I not have?"

"No, it's fine. It's just that, I know we didn't see each other a lot after this, so I didn't think you would really have this on your wall, especially not like this."

To Trina's credit, she was right. Aside from Freddie's trip to Hollywood Arts for Tori's play - the very same play where Trina ended up in the hospital, a few brief visits on weekends and breaks, and some online conversations here and there, with the exception of Sam moving to L.A. and starting a babysitting business with Cat, contact between the Angelenos and Seattlites was sporadic at best.

"Well, we did talk, sometimes, so that's one reason that I put the picture up," Freddie explained. "And even though the original reason why we were there was kind of shitty, the whole experience turned out to be fun."

Once she thought of why Freddie and his friends were initially at the party, it had irritated her for a brief moment, even if it didn't show on the outside. Although she told the man responsible that she was the better choice at one point, when she found out that Steven was dating Tori and Carly both at once without the other girl knowing, it had upset her, so much to the point that she wanted to kick his ass, or at the very least, spread a nasty rumor about him to people that he knew. But the impromptu skit on "iCarly" with her sister, Carly, Sam and Kenan Thompson provided enough shame for the homeschooled two-timer.

Rather than dwell on the situation that brought Freddie and his webshow hosts to L.A., she went back to the picture that was taken near the party's end.

"Well, I'm glad you thought enough of us to hang the picture in a frame on your wall."

"What can I say? All of us are friends... I think," Freddie joked.

"At least it's a picture from the party, and not of me swinging off the stage in the play," Trina pointed out, recalling her accident involving the wires on her harness.

"Nope, no it's not. But if I remember right, didn't Jade post a video of it on the internet?"

"Good Lord, don't remind me of that," Trina said in a half-serious, half-joking manner.

"Touched a nerve when I brought it up, huh?"

"Yeah, you kinda did. We get along better now, but that video, it's still kind of a sore spot for me."

"I understand that," Freddie responded. "Wanna sit down?"

"Sure, thanks."

Freddie went to his couch to sit down next to Trina. Once he was positioned in his seat, he looked over to his right and noticed she was beginning to laugh. Not sure what to make of it, he decided to find out the cause of her humor.

"Uh, what's so funny?"

"Nothing really," Trina answered. "It's just that I'm wondering how we've been in this building, on this floor together for a year, and we're just now meeting up with each other."

"Well, maybe it just wasn't time for us to find each other, you know?"

"I guess not. So you've been here a year, right?"

"Yeah. I came to L.A. about a week or so or after graduation, because I had already got the job."

"Really?" Trina wondered aloud. "How'd that happen?"

"They interviewed me while classes were still going on. I got evaluated, and when the company saw some of the stuff I did at Washington, it put me on the final candidate list."

While Freddie was at Washington, he had done a great deal of web and graphic design for local companies in Seattle and around Washington state. However, something that moved him forward in his then-potential career was the work he did that had eventually landed on television. Through his time at U-Dub, Freddie had a hand in either directing, producing or editing 20 commercials, and had done all three duties on at least five of them. The biggest of those was a commercial for the sale of Seattle Cobras playoff tickets during his senior year, and ironically enough the Cobras ended up winning the Ultimate Bowl that year. Of course, something else that swayed the staff at Hi-Def Vision was his time on "iCarly".

"I knew that whoever hired me to work for them, they would bring up 'iCarly', no matter whether I wanted them to or not," Freddie explained. "Forget the work on the websites, or the commercial that I did for the world-champion football team in my hometown."

"Uh... I don't wanna assume anything, but you seem kind of irritated about it," Trina said, noticing the slight bit of anger in his voice.

"No, I'm not irritated. It's just that I don't want my only notable accomplishment to be 'iCarly' technical producer. Hell, Carly and Sam barely acknowledged it most of the time, so why should other people make a big deal about it?"

Sensing that he didn't wanna talk about it anymore, Trina decided to find out more about what brought Freddie to Los Angeles.

"Did anyone else interview you, or was this about it?"

"I got a few other interviews aside from Hi-Def Vision. Most of them were in Seattle, then there was another one here in L.A., and there was even a offer from a place in New York."

"So what made you decide to come here?"

"By the time I did my own evaluations it was either come here and work at Hi-Def Vision, or work for 206 Film And Graphics, the company I would have went to if I stayed in Seattle. 206 was a good company, and I really wanted to stay, but I thought about the amount of work I could get if I was here, and what other opportunities it could lead to."

"Like what? I mean, what were you planning to do?"

"Aside from still working on websites and other computer-related stuff? I was actually thinking of doing some more directing. I mean, with all the episodes of 'iCarly' and the commercials that I did, I thought that it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Who knows? Maybe it could lead to me working on a TV show, or even a movie. With you as the leading lady."

Trina was already paying attention to what Freddie had said, but her eyes widened when she heard his "leading lady" comment. She tried to brush it off and not say anything, because along with not wanting to revert back to her old ways, she didn't know if he was saying it as a joke, to flirt with her, or if he was actually serious, and oddly enough, in his case, all three of those things applied to him.

So instead, she just decided to keep the conversation moving.

"Well, lets hope somebody wants to make me a leading lady first. Then maybe we'll be able to work together "

"Trust me, somebody's gonna do that someday. Just remember what I said to you earlier, and you'll be fine."

"Since you're so insistent about me and my chances as an actress, maybe you ought to try being an actor, then that way, if I make it, then you could be my leading man."

"Haha, no way, Trina. I would suck as an actor," Freddie joked.

"I don't know, those skits on your webshow were kind of funny," Trina replied, possibly referring to the "Fluffley and Peeta" and "Moonlight Twi-Blood" skits.

"Okay, first of all, those skits were spoofs, or the 'Moonlight Twi-Blood' skits were, anyway. Besides, the only reason so many people, especially girls, liked those skits is because I was imitating the guy from those stupid vampire movies."

"Maybe that's true, but still, it's something you might wanna consider."

Not really wanting to keep going about their potential futures as actors or filmmakers, Freddie decided to shift the focus somewhere else.

"I'm not sure about you, but as fun as talking about being movie stars and famous directors is, I feel like watching some TV."

"That's fine with me," she answered. With that, Freddie turned on the flat screen, briefly leaving it on one of the local channels for the remainder of the mid-afternoon newsbreak.

When that ended, he asked Trina what she wanted to watch, and she suggested to him to go through the channel guide. After briefly browsing through various channels and shows, the pair agreed on watching reruns of _Girly Cow_.

Once those ended, she asked him to turn to the recent episode of "The Next Great Designer". He wasn't too fond of the show, or most reality shows in general, but since Trina was his guest, he decided to let it go. She jokingly asked him if he didn't like it, to which he answered that not liking the show was an understatement. His response got a quick laugh from the waitress.

Once the episode of "...Designer" was done, Freddie scrolled through the guide again, where he eventually saw that there were reruns of "CFC Unrestricted" on Adrenaline TV. Whatever excitement Trina displayed over the episode of "The Next Great Designer" was multiplied when the MMA show was displayed on the screen. Mentally, Freddie chalked it up as a win when he saw that she was a mixed martial arts fan like he was.

Oddly enough, the first episode of the MMA organization's best-of show was a highlight of none other than Shelby Marx, the young legend who once had a exhibition fight with his friend (Carly), and who also greatly resembled her younger sister (Tori). The irony wasn't lost on either of them.

The first fight was one of Shelby's more recent matches against a young woman named Stephanie Rodriguez. The bout was another title fight for Shelby, and through three rounds, it was evenly matched, and in a few instances, it even appeared as if Shelby might lose. But then in the fourth round, Shelby landed a combination of punches, the last few coming while she hovered over Rodriguez on the mat inside the cage. The punches were powerful enough to earn Shelby a win by technical knockout, which allowed her to maintain the CFC Women's Championship.

The next fight was Shelby's match against Maya Feckner, the very fight where she became the youngest champion, and it was also the last fight before her exhibition match with Carly. The fight didn't last long, with Shelby beating Maya by submission in a matter of seconds.

In between the closing seconds of the first episode and the beginning of the next, Trina asked Freddie about the time leading up to Carly's fight with Shelby.

He explained the moment when he, Carly, Sam and Spencer all met Shelby. She, along with her trainer Juan and her manager Rod, had somehow figured that he and Carly lived in Bushwell Plaza, and they managed to show up at Carly and Spencer's place in light of the video that made its way onto Splashface. Even though it was a joke, Shelby still insisted that the two of them should have a fight. Carly finally agreed to the fight only after she was promised that it was for fun, and that she wouldn't get hurt.

He got a laugh out of the older Vega when he told her about the incident involving himself, Shelby, Juan and the raisin bread toast. He initially made the toast in a effort to impress Shelby, an effort that failed miserably, and of course, it also earned him yet another taunting from Sam. Oddly enough, Juan said he liked the toast, which only added to Freddie's embarrassment.

He continued on with the story, which included the warning of others about how Carly could end up like a Russian fighter who, as a result of a fight with Shelby, could only say "bluh bluh bluh bluh", and the heckling that affected the group when Carly initially decided to back out of the fight after the incident at the press conference involving her and Shelby's grandmother.

After explaining that Shelby was shown a heavily edited video before the fight, which at the time was unknown to her and the Seattle webhosts and tech producer, he also told Trina about Spencer's spazzy hands at the arena, which eventually led to him being kicked in the face by Shelby. Once the trio and MMA fighter put it together that Nevel was behind said video, they all came up with a plan for revenge. Once he and Gibby led Nevel to the cage, Carly and Sam cornered him, and as a result, Nevel made the mistake of admitting that he doctored the video that he showed Shelby just days before her and Carly's matchup. This caused her to appear from another part of the cage, and with Carly and Sam alongside her, they began their revenge on the devious blogger/hacker.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Trina repeated in a hurry as she laughed at what she had just heard. "So, they really wedgied him in the cage?"

"Yeah, they did. Can't say he didn't have it coming to him," Freddie responded. "He pulled some pretty janky stuff over the years, particularly leading up to that fight."

"Well, at least you guys worked everything out with Shelby. It was cool to see her on your webshow."

"Thanks. It's good that you liked it."

"I do have one thing that I wanna ask you though."

"What's that?"

"Sniffing her hair? Really?"

"What can I say? I was... I had a big crush on Shelby back then. The only girl I might have had stronger feelings for was Carly, and anybody who knows me well enough knows how I felt about Carly for so long. Long story short, I got carried away by sniffing Shelby's hair when we hugged, and I guess I creeped her out... again."

Both he and Trina laughed at his explanation of what happened when Shelby appeared on "iCarly". After the haha's died down, he was quickly reminded of the knowledge she had displayed while they were watching CFC. It led him to wonder if there was some trace of a fighter in the singing and acting waitress.

"You seemed to know a lot about the fights we watched. Have you ever tried being a pro fighter?"

"No, I don't think I would really be suited to be a pro MMA fighter," Trina answered modestly, something she wouldn't have done in her younger days. "But... I do know karate."

"Oh really?" Freddie seemed intrigued by the new piece of information he just learned.

"Yeah, it's true. I mainly took karate to learn how to defend myself, and it doesn't hurt that it helps to keep me in shape."

"Have you ever had to use your moves on anybody?"

"Well, no, not exactly. There was one time back at Hollywood Arts, but it wasn't really a big deal." Trina had described it as not a big deal because sure enough, the incident involving herself, Tori, Robbie and their old principal Helen was staged. And as she learned over ther years, the idea was actually a plan to keep her in school and not Tori, because she, and not her younger sibling, was supposed to be the one that had to leave the school. On one hand, it hurt her feelings and definitely bruised her ego. But it also motivated her to keep practicing her singing and acting, along with her karate.

"Do you still practice your moves?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah, I do, a few times every week. Most of the time, I practice at home, but every so often, I go to a gym."

"Okay then. You seriously never tried to fight professionally?"

"No I didn't. Like I said, I know how to defend myself if somebody tried to rape me or mug me, or if some loser or skanky bitch wanted to pick a fight with me. But I doubt if anyone saw me practicing, they would confuse for a cagefighter anytime soon."

"Nobody's ever done it before?" Freddie asked jokingly, slightly laughing once he finished.

"Nope, not with me anyway," Trina responded, alluding to the fact that her sibling had once (or twice, or several countless times over the years) been confused with a certain MMA legend the tech producer knew personally.

"Did Tori ever get confused for one?"

"Yeah, and a lot of times, it happened at the worst possible moment. Like whenever I went to the gym, sometimes me and Tori would go together. The first time, I thought it might have been someone asking her for a picture or autograph because they saw her the few times she had sung on TV. But then a bunch of guys, and even some girls were like, 'ohmigawd, it's Shelby Marx!' Next thing you know, there was a bunch of chaos involved."

"So what'd you do to get everybody to back off?"

"Well, when we were at the gym, it usually was resolved when she said something like, 'I'm not Shelby, you guys', or 'my name is Tori, not Shelby Marx'. One time, I did have to yell 'stop' and remind people about her being my sister. But more often than not, it was fine as long as we were at the gym, or somewhere that wasn't MMA-related."

"What do you mean?" Freddie wondered about the waitress' retelling of events.

"Whoo, man," Trina said, taking a breath afterwards because she knew that what she was about to tell him was long, crazy and hard to believe, even for her, despite the fact that she had not only witnessed it, but to a degree, was also a part of it.

After taking a moment to calm herself down, Trina sat up on the couch and locked eyes with Freddie as she braced herself to tell the story.

"Okay, do you remember last year when Jackson Colt and 'Knuckles' Rogers were in that heavyweight championship fight at Pencils Stadium?"

"Yeah, who could forget? That fight was incredible," Freddie exclaimed at the memory of the fight. After going the full five rounds, Jackson eventually won the fight and the championship due to a judges' decision, although in many people's eyes, he should have been awarded a knockout win after landing a vicious punch at the end of the third round, before the horn sounded.

"Incredible's an understatement, but I won't argue with you about that," Trina joked. "But anyway, I'm not sure how, but Tori managed to get tickets for CFC Championship Saturday, and she told me that it was a 'welcome back' present that just came a year late. So we get to the arena just in time for the prelims (preliminary matches) to start. I'm telling you, as soon as we got there, it was already crazy."

"What happened?"

"When we pulled into the arena, one of the parking lot attendants checked our tickets to make sure they were real, you know, not counterfeit or being used from some event that happened before."

"Right."

"I was the one who drove there, so I had been the one to show the guy the tickets. I'm not sure if he saw Tori when he got them, but once he gave them back to us, he must have made eye contact with her, because all of a sudden, he goes, 'hey, aren't you Shelby Marx?' Now this was the first time, so of course, Tori just says, 'no, I'm not Shelby Marx, I'm sorry.' He asks her if she's sure, she says yes, and we pretty much went on from there."

Sensing that the story was gonna get worse, or at least crazier, Freddie went on to ask, or rather guess where it was about to go next.

"I take it that it wasn't the last time that she got confused for Shelby that night."

"Uh-uh, not by a long shot. When we got inside, we got checked by security, and there was another ticket check afterwards. Then all of a sudden, one of the people in front of us turned around and looked in our direction. Not even ten seconds later, she yells out, 'hey look! It's Shelby Marx!' Sure enough, everybody in the vicinity had asked her to sign this, take a picture with them for that, blah blah blah. Tori apparently hadn't reached her breaking point yet, because she was still being calm about the whole thing."

"What did she say this time?"

"Believe it or not, all she said was, 'no, I'm not Shelby. I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but I'm not her.'"

"That's still not the end of it though, I take it."

"Like hell it is," Trina exclaimed quickly, causing Freddie to laugh at the response that she gave. "And this last part I'm about to tell you, this was the worst part of it all."

"That bad?"

"That bad, and then some. So this time, since there was still some time before the first fight, we both went to the concession stand to buy some snacks. We were in line for maybe a minute, when these two kids, a little boy and a little girl, came behind us, and then the little girl tapped Tori and asked her if she could get autographs for her and her brother. Tori hesitated because she didn't know if the girl had actually knew who she was, or if she was confusing her for Shelby like everybody else."

"So what's the bad part?"

"The little girl asking for the autographs wasn't the problem. The problem happened when Tori asked her, 'you want my autograph?', and the little boy said, 'yeah, you're Shelby Marx, right?' No sooner than he had asked that, some crazy chick in line just had to yell, 'hey everybody, look! It's Shelby Marx!'

"No way that happened."

"Oh yeah, it happened, and that's only the beginning. The girl who yelled that out started to walk up on her, but then Tori screamed and ran, because other people were approaching her along with the girl."

"You're kidding," Freddie said, not able to believe what he had heard about that part of the story so far.

"I wish I was. But that wasn't the craziest part. Right when she was about to run off, she grabbed me to pull me away, so then I had to run with her. I wasn't really thinking at the time, so I had just said that running wasn't gonna solve anything. Then she goes, 'so do you suggest we stay here and get mobbed by all these fans?' I couldn't argue with her about that, so we just kept on."

"So how were you finally able to stop?"

"Right next to one of the exits that led to the seats, there was this fan booth that was set up there. At the booth, there was this big bullhorn sitting on this table that was there. Right when we were about to reach it, Tori turned around and told me that she had a plan to stop everybody from chasing us. So when we got to the booth, she grabbed the bullhorn, and then she hopped on the table and stood up. I had to ask what she was doing, and all she said was to trust her, and that the plan would work."

"What did she do?"

"Once we finished talking, she took the bullhorn and pressed the siren to get the crowd quiet. As soon as they stopped talking, Tori turned on the microphone part and put it by her mouth so she could speak. She cleared her throat, then she started her speech. She said:

"_Alright, I want everybody to listen and listen good. I AM NOT Shelby Marx. I just look like her, apparently too much like her. My name is Tori Vega, and I'm just an aspiring singer and actress. Once again, I am not Shelby, I don't_ _ know her, I never met her, and I don't even know if she's in the state, let alone in the arena. Now, to all of the kids, I'm truly sorry to disappoint you. I know a lot of you really like and admire her, and you probably wanted to meet her really bad , and now you might be devastated, or at least disappointed because I'm not her, so I really wanna apologize for that._

_But as for any adult over here, if you still decide to hunt or chase me down, or even stalk me after this, I seriously urge you to brace yourself, because you may get dropkicked into next week. And if you still don't get it, you'll be dealing with my big sister Trina, the woman who's standing next to me, or rather, standing under me. Then, just to make sure you understand clearly, you might find yourself in the presence of one of the LAPD's finest, and for your sake, just hope that it's not our father._

_Now that I've said that, I'm gonna go and get some snacks for me and my sister, and then we're gonna watch the fights. I highly suggest that you do the same, and leave us alone. Have a good night, everybody."_

As Trina sat back down after doing her re-enactment of her younger sister's run-in with a hectic crowd, Freddie broke into a fit of laughter he could barely control.

"No way, Trina," Freddie spoke. "You've gotta be kidding."

"Man, I'm serious," Trina responded. "If Tori wouldn't have done what she did, we probably would still be getting chased right now."

"At least now I know confusing your sister for Shelby is universal, and not just something we did."

"So you, Carly and Sam did it too, huh?" the former _Divertisimo_ actress asked.

"Yeah, we did, or well me and Sam did. We pointed it out, anyway."

"When did this happen?"

"Six years ago, about a week before the party. Carly saw a picture of Steven with your sister, and Sam thought that she should look into it, and long story short, that's how we found out about the party, and more importantly, that Steven was dating the both of them behind their backs."

"I get it. I'm glad you guys did that skit that night. I still wanted to kick his ass for what he did, though."

"I don't blame you, because I pretty much wanted to do the same thing."

"You and Sam must have been angry."

"Angry is putting it lightly. Sam wanted to beat him with a sock full of butter, give him a 'Royal Thesbin', and I'm not sure, but I think she even came up with a plan that might have involved putting hot sauce on his private parts."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Trina yelled after hearing about the blonde's idea of payback. "She wanted to put hot sauce on his junk?"

"Yeah, she wanted to put hot sauce on his junk. She wanted to beat Tori with a buttersock, too -"

"She wanted to what?!"

"Sam thought about hitting Tori with the buttersock because of the fact she was with Steven too, but Carly talked her out of it, because she didn't know about her and Steven being together."

"Good. She had better talked her out of it, or that would have been someone else's ass I need to kick." Realizing that she was talking about his friends, or at least who she thought were his friends, she began to calm down and back off from her stance.

"Look, I'm sorry," Trina continued. "I know that they're your friends, and they were -"

"No, it's cool," Freddie spoke up. "I get it. That's your sister, and you're protective of her. I understand."

After a few seconds of silence, Trina had thought about Freddie telling her that he himself wanted to fight Steven, but hadn't done so. She wondered what stopped him, so she got the urge to ask him about it.

"Earlier, you said something about wanting to fight Steven. What made you not do it?"

"Well, in the long run, I didn't have to fight him, because the skit on 'iCarly' took care of everything. But initially, I hadn't kicked his ass because Carly talked me out of that too."

"What'd she say to you?"

"When I said I wanted to fight, she just told me that I shouldn't do it. Then when I said that he deserved to get his ass kicked, she said that he did, but I couldn't do it because, supposedly, I was all geeky and he would pound me silly."

"That was pretty sucky for her to say, because he did deserve it. Besides, you look like you could hurt a guy."

"Glad somebody thinks so," Freddie jokingly replied. "Normally, when it comes to fighting, everybody always assumes I would just get destroyed." Oddly enough, once Freddie's days at Ridgeway were over, he ended up taking boxing and MMA classes. That, along with his continued fencing lessons, apparently paid off, when he came out on the winning end of a bar fight involving himself, his U-Dub roommates, and another group of guys which occured in his sophmore year.

Meanwhile, Trina had been wondering what it had been like for him, along with Carly and Sam to discover that his best friend was being cheated on. If it had angered her that her baby sister was getting two-timed, then it must have been difficult at the very least for him to know that his friend and longtime crush was being deceived as well.

"What was it like, you know, when you found out about what Steven was doing?" Trina asked.

"Umm," Freddie started before he could respond. "A little shocked might be one way to put it. Like when we first saw the pictures of him and Tori together, Sam thought he was cheating that very second. Carly, up until we got to the party and she saw him with your sister, she was pretty much in denial about the whole thing."

"What about you?"

"Me, well, on one hand, I thought he was cheating, but then for whatever reason, I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't really know why, exactly. Maybe because I'm a guy, and I wouldn't want someone accusing me of cheating just because of some pictures. It might be because Sam was the one accusing him. It could have just been because there wasn't anything in those pictures that made me think he was cheating on Carly. All I know is that I didn't wanna assume anything."

"I can understand that," Trina told Freddie after hearing his explanation of what initially caused their sudden trip to L.A. "So, I know you said something earlier abouit how my sister looked like Shelby Marx to you guys. But I'm wondering about something though."

"What's that?"

"What else did you think of my sister when you first saw her?"

"You really wanna know?" Freddie asked, unsure if he should tell Trina about his attraction to Tori when he first saw her in the previously mentioned pictures. As she nodded her head 'yes', he took a short breath before he finally answered. "Well, when I had first saw her the first time, I thought she was beautiful, really attractive. Actually, when I first found out what she looked like, my exact words were, 'doing, who's she?' Then when the whole Shelby Marx thing came up, I had said that they both looked alike, but Tori was hotter."

"Really?"

"Yes, that's what I said. Um, you're not upset, are you?"

"No, Freddie, it's okay. When I was younger, I might have been upset or mad, because of how I was back then. But I've grown up since then, and besides, I know what kind of woman my sister is, so I understand why guys like her. Plus, us Vega girls, we're a pretty good-looking bunch. It's hard for men not to be attracted to us."

After a short laugh, Freddie began to explain the consequence of that effect that he had to deal with. "Well, my attraction to your sister, it got me an orange being thrown into my back."

"Wait a minute," Trina replied with a hint of shock in her voice. "You got hit with an orange just because you thought my sister was hot?"

"Yep. Apparently, all my admiration of Tori was pissing Carly off, so she decided to whack me with a big ball of citrus."

"Man, that, that sounds horrible."

"Actually, what's horrible is that it was the second time I had oranges thrown at me that day."

"Why? Did you say something bad to them? Had you touched them somewhere you weren't supposed to? I mean, what could you have done to constantly get assaulted with fruit?"

"Well, it's not an excuse, but when Carly did it, it might have been because the idea of Steven cheating on her was messing with her head, and me obsessing over Tori must have sent her over the edge."

"Okay, but why did Sam do it?"

"Honestly, it was probably just another way for her to fuck with me. She did that a lot when we were younger."

"Throwing oranges at you, or fucking with you?"

"The last part."

"That's odd. From the way you acted at the party, and aside from the occasional rude comment on the webshow, you all seemed to get along pretty good."

"Well, everything isn't always what it seems."

"So then, what was your relationship with Sam really like?"

"Where do I begin?" Freddie pondered as he thought about his friendship, if he could call it that, with the young woman he once referred to as "the Blonde-Headed Demon." "We were supposed to be friends, but truth be told, I think the both of us only put up with each other because of Carly."

"It was that bad?" Trina asked, now seemingly shocked at what she was hearing.

"Yeah. I mean, we got along sometimes, but more often than not, I was on the wrong end of her wrath."

"Well, what did she do?"

"A lot of things. Like stuffing a water hose in my pants, shocking me with one of those shock pens or whatever it's called, pushing me out of a treehouse, putting a dead fish in my locker, and that's just what I can think of right this moment."

"And this is on top of her throwing oranges at you?"

"Hell, this is all before the orange throwing incident. Oh, and do you remember earlier at the diner, when I told you about me getting a tattoo when I was 13?"

"Yeah, I remember. How'd that happen anyway?"

"Me and Sam, we got into some bullshit argument about what MPEG stood for. I said it stood for 'Mega Pixel Electronic Gallery', and she said it stood for 'Moving Pictures Experts Group.' It turned out that she was right, and since we bet on it and I lost, I had to get a tattoo of her face on my arm."

"You had to get a tattoo of _her face _on _your arm_?"

"Yep. For a whole day, I had the displeasure of walking around with her face in the same spot where the angel is now," Freddie told Trina, referring to the unclothed angel on his left arm.

"That must have sucked for you to walk around with that."

"It did, but the tattoo itself was only part of the problem. To add insult to injury, the person who Sam got to do the tattoo was her cousin Annie."

"So, you lost a bet with Sam, then you had to get a tattoo of her face, which was done by her cousin."

"Pretty much."

"I'm guessing that was pretty bad."

"Yeah, it was horrible." Freddie knew Trina was stating the obvious, but he wasn't mad, because he understood that the waitress/actress was still in shock from what he told her about his alleged friend and ex-girlfriend. But there was still more for her to hear.

"So what did your mom say when she found out?" the Hollywood Arts graduate asked.

"Oh man, don't get me started on my mom," the web and graphic designer responded. "I could sit here and tell you that she was upset, but then I would be sugarcoating the hell out of it."

Freddie then went on to further explain the aftermath of Mrs. Benson finding out about the tattoo of Sam's face that once occupied his left arm. The one upside, if there was one according to him, was that he and his mother both found out that the ink in his tattoo was temporary before any laser could be applied to his skin. But that didn't save him from the angry lecture his mother gave him about how wrong it was to deface his body, among other things.

He also told Trina as quickly as he could about his relationships with both webhostesses, from his brief courtship of Carly after the taco truck accident, to the trainwreck that was his relationship with Sam. Of course, that meant that he also had to explain the infamous "foreign bacon" speech; the lock-in at Ridgeway and the trip to Troubled Waters that was, for lack of a better word, insane. Even worse yet, there were also the stories about the disaster first date at Pini's, the revelation of sabotage that caused Freddie to lose a potential scholarship to "NERD Camp", and finally, the inadvertant overhearing of Carly's rant towards Spencer about his own relationship with his "babysitter" that ultimately led to Freddie and Sam breaking up, which ironically happened after the two of them made out in Carly and Spencer's elevator.

Not to be forgotten, Freddie also mentioned the incident with Melanie, and how, because of Sam's constant pranks towards him, he couldn't return her twin's attraction to him, because he thought that he had been tricked yet again.

Last but not least, there was still the rollercoaster ride of events that occured the week of "iCarly"'s last webshow. In the process of helping Carly prepare for the "Father/Daughter" dance, Freddie had asked Sam about possibly getting back together. Even though it hadn't been thoroughly discussed, he would be lying if he said he never gave the idea some thought. But as it turned out, his feelings for Carly, which included the infamous "is it too late for you to love me" question, were still very much alive, and that became evident when he fist-pumped his hands in the air after they kissed in the studio. However, in the first days and weeks after the previously mentioned events, he came to many different conclusions.

First, he wondered that if Carly really loved him like he had hoped for so many years, then why had it taken her getting ready to leave for Italy to express it, even if it was by kissing him? Then he realized that the selling point that finally convinced Carly to go to Italy with her dad was the promise of "cute Italian boys". In his eyes, it meant that, just like so many times in the past, the idea of chasing after some random guy was more appealing than possibly giving him a real chance, despite the fact that he had been there and put up with a lot for her over the previous seven years, including saving her life. Just as he had told Chuck before going on his date with Melanie, he had been "barking up that tree since 6th grade", and the "hero thing" from the taco truck accident had long since worn off, and up until the kiss she gave him before leaving for Italy, there was no real sign that Carly loved him, was in love with him, or that she even liked him "in the good way". So with that in mind, while he loved and cared about Carly a lot, he felt that there was no point in pursuing her anymore, not if she didn't feel the same way he did.

The newfound epiphany he had wasn't just limited to the brunette who once lived across the hall. It definitely applied to the Blonde-Headed Demon as well. From the very moment he met Sam, most, if not all of their interaction was based on her making his life a living hell, or trying her damn hardest to do so. Things only got worse once they dated, and even though he had considered, and better yet, even asked Sam about trying again at their relationship, he had been through too much with Sam to get back together with her, and her decision to move to L.A. only solidified his belief even further.

Freddie felt in his mind, and his heart, that even though he loved both girls as friends and ex-girlfriends, he needed a new start, and part of getting that was to deal with both girls from a distance.

Meanwhile, in his apartment, he noticed that Trina had gained a look of stun and surprise on her face while hearing him explain his past. Like many other people, she judged their collective friendship from what she saw on the webshow, so she, like most of the viewers, thought that they were a lot closer than they turned out to be.

"Are you okay?" he had asked the older Vega sister. He began to grow concerned at her expression, because while he knew that his story might shock her, he didn't think it would have this type of effect.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little surprised, that's all. I'm sorry you had to go through all of those things, Freddie."

"It's okay. I mean, I'm okay. At least now I am. So much of it was bad, but I'm better now because of it. I gained a greater sense about a lot of things because of what I went through."

"How did you deal with it for so long?"

"I guess I was blind, plus a little naïve," the Seattle native explained. "I spent so much time around them, and I thought that they were my friends, and maybe they are, but they hadn't done such a great job of proving it."

"Well, that... that's a mature way to look at it. You seem a little calm about it now," Trina told him.

"Maybe time, separation and talking about it with an awesome waitress might have helped me," Freddie joked in an effort to lighten the mood. "But seriously, what about you? I know I'm talking to a clearly different woman than the one I met at Kenan Thompson's house. Something had to happen for that to be possible."

"Aside from being an awesome waitress like you said, this 'clearly different' woman who sits before you now, I'm an example of what happens when someone relocates and does some soul searching."

"So that moving thing was real," Freddie stated, remembering her brief explanation of how she got the apartment when they talked in the hallway.

"Yes it was, but the soul searching, that actually started while I was still at Hollywood Arts."

"So what happened?"

"You remember when I told you at the diner that I was on a Spanish-language show while I was still at Hollywood Arts?"

"Yeah, I remember. What was it?"

"It was this show called _Divertisimo_, and I was on it for a few episodes. I had made a big deal about being on the show, and when I had told Tori or anyone else about it, I always made it seem like I was on this really awesome show, like it was a soap opera or sitcom or something."

"Then what was the problem?"

"Really, all it was is just a show for kids, and a lot of my time was spent doing all this crazy stuff. There was even one episode where I dressed up as a piece of cheese, and I was being chased by these little kids who dressed up as mice, one of whom had a giant fork."

As the story finally sunk in, Freddie began to laugh at what he just heard. "I'm sorry, Trina. I don't mean to laugh at you," he said to her. "It's just, I'm trying to picture you as a piece of cheese being chased by mice."

"No, it's okay," she responded as she herself started laughing. "I can laugh about it now, but it was pretty embarrassing to go through it back then. Especially when everybody found out what it was."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the night that I did the episode where I was dressed as cheese, apparently Tori and Jade had seen it. Since the show airs live as it's being filmed, and the studio wasn't that far from the house, they decided to show up. Needless to say, they gave me shit about it, and the only reason that stopped is because they were asked to be on the show, and they had to accept because they made some crazy bet where they had to say 'yes' anytime someone asked them for a favor."

"Okay, so how does this fit into the whole 'soul searching' thing?"

"After it was over, I had thought about the whole experience, not just what the show was about, but the fact that I had to lie about it being something else, and constanttly remind people of it in order for them to even act like they cared, especially when I knew that they didn't. Then I remembered some of the things I had been through since I had been at Hollywood Arts, especially after Tori got there. Once I put it all together, it was... it was painful to deal with."

"What happened to you?"

"Long story short, for the majority of the time I was there, I was constantly rejected by guys, told almost every day that I didn't have any talent, especially by Jade. Then I had to deal with a bunch of bullshit rumors about how I got into the school, either ones where my parents paid someone for me to get in, or that I had to suck and fuck my way in. Oh, and there's all types of stories about what happened at my audition that are so fucking hilarious."

Trina then went on to tell Freddie about her issues with Tori's defense of her, or the lack of it, whenever someone within the group insulted her for whatever reason. She also filled him in on the mess that her relationship with her parents had basically became. The biggest factors in this had been the time that Mr. and Mrs. Vega left home on a trip to Santa Barbara, apparently for nothing other than not wanting to take care of Trina when her wisdom teeth were removed, and also the time that Mr. Vega had suggested that when and if she went to college, that she would go somewhere "far, far away."

She had admitted that she caused her share of problems in her younger days, and she could understand why people found it hard to get along with her. Over the years, she knew that events such as her disregard for Tori's "birthweek" song, "You're The Reason" - a song that Trina eventually sold to buy a hat, and that had somehow landed in the possession of Beyoncé - and rumors she spread about her dating Beck, anong other things, had rubbed many people the wrong way, mainly Tori, their parents and the rest of the group.

But even with the acknowledgement of her own actions, it hadn't lessened the hurt of the feeling she had when she began to realize just how unwelcome and unwanted she had seemingly become.

Many situations had crossed her mind, such as the prank Beck, André and Robbie pulled on her to "teach her a lesson" as a sort of "punishment" for the previously mentioned rumors - which ultimately led to her dad's "far, far away" speech, and this was months after he suggested that Trina should have been left in Yerba - as well as the reason for the applause for her play being that Robbie had reviewed it as a comedy, which more or less in her eyes meant that he viewed her play, and her skills as an actress, as a joke.

Then there was the incident that occured after the re-auditions, when the staged mugging of Helen and beatdown of Robbie , originally believed to be a plan to keep Tori in school, was actually meant to keep Trina around, even though she technically should have been gone.

But what had crushed Trina the most was the general feeling of neglect and unappreciation she had within her own house. Tori had been partly responsible for this, with the fact that she almost never said anything when something negative came up about her, and that the two of them hardly spent any time together by themselves since Tori herself had become a student at Hollywood Arts. But as their time at the school was coming to an end, both girls had managed to squeeze in a few moments of sisterly bonding.

The real culprit, or culprits, behind this perceived mood, however, had really been Mr. and Mrs. Vega. Though their parenting of both of their daughters had been mediocre at best since both girls had been enrolled at the prestigious high school, it was clear that they paid attention to, and valued Tori far more than they did Trina. Even with his work schedule as a member of the LAPD, her own self-involved demeanor, and the affair she had been having with his partner, the Vega parents had somehow managed to show the occasional support for their youngest daughter and her accomplishments, from her appearance at the Platinum Music Awards, to her performance of the national anthem at the Northridge College basketball game. Even with the controversy that surrounded both events, and some other ones as well, David and Holly were sure to remind her, even if it meant keeping it short and sweet.

Trina, on the other hand, was damn near non-existent in their eyes, and if they still loved and cared about her at all, then they had done a terrible job of expressing it. When she had mentioned that she had even got a part on _Divertisimo_, the both of them had blown it off, and when they finally saw an episode of the show, they hadn't done much of anything but laugh, not from being amused by the show's content, but rather as a move of simple mockery.

Things such as 'you made a big deal about this?' and 'this is your show with the top-notch acting?' had been said about Trina's appearance on the Spanish-language children's show, only adding to the insult of her parents' laughter. They had said something about Tori and Jade being on the show, but it was simply to ask why they were, which led to Tori explaining the director asking them to join Trina, and not being able to say no because of Sikowitz's challenge to their class.

But the final straw came during the weekend of Tori's graduation a few months later. Along with her graduating, as well as the rest of the group, Trina and some other students were being honored for completing a post-graduate program that Hollywood Arts had offered. She had particularly been honored for her appearance on _Divertisimo_, as well as being featured in a music video by a well-known local rap artist.

Back at the Vega household, where a small gathering was being held after the graduation ceremony, their relatives offered their congratulations, and Tori even told Trina that despite the fights, arguments and run-ins that they had in the past, she loved her and was proud of her, and then apologized for not being closer with her since attending Hollywood Arts. Trina had told her the same, and had also apologized for not being a better sister.

Later in the afternoon, André, Beck, Jade, Cat and Robbie had even came by to congratulate the girls as well after spending time with their own families. They also took some time to issue their own apologies to the older Vega sister. Each of them had individually done so for any trouble they personally caused her, and they had all collectively said they were sorry for not treating her better than they had. Trina had said she was sorry, and acknowledged the fact that she hadn't been the easiest person to deal with over the years.

But just like many other times in the recent past, Mr. and Mrs. Vega took it upon themselves to downplay _and _downgrade their oldest daughter and her accomplishments. Later that evening, after the gathering had ended and everyone left to go home, the man and woman of the household had joined their youngest daughter at the kitchen table and began to congratulate her. They told her how proud of her they were of her, and that she came a long way during her time at H.A., especially considering that she hadn't intended to go there.

Tori had asked them what they thought about Trina completing the post-graduate program, pointing out that she wasn't entirely untalented, and that Trina had a hand in Tori making it into Hollywood Arts in the first place. Holly stated that while they were happy Trina had graduated a year earlier, and that she finished the post-grad program, it wasn't a whole lot that they could be proud of. When Tori asked what they meant, David told her that Trina, in their eyes, was 'a horrible performer'. He then said that even though she had been in a handful of plays - which included her self-tiltled, one woman play and Tori's play, which landed her in the hospital - and made it onto a kids' show and music video, it was something that almost anyone could have done. David even went so far to say that Tori accomplished more in her two and a half years at Hollywood Arts than Trina had in the entire five years that she had spent there.

What Holly, David and Tori didn't know was that their oldest daughter and big sister had overheard the conversation on the stairwell because she had planned on getting a snack out of the fridge. That also meant that she heard Tori trying to defend her somehow, saying that even though Trina wasn't the most talented person, she was passionate about what she wanted to do, and if she practiced more, learned what her capabilities were, and took it seriously, then she could possibly become a star one day.

"Listen, Tori, we love your sister," Holly began. "But as far as being a singer or an actress goes, Trina is a joke. Now maybe if she's lucky, she could get in some skanky outfits and dance around in some more music videos. Or maybe she could be like every other wannabe in this town and be on a reality show, then that way, she would be famous for doing nothing!"

"Okay, Holly, that's enough," David said. "You don't think Trina's talented, we get it."

"No David, you don't get it. Apparently, your youngest daughter thinks her big sister has talent, even though she doesn't! Oh wait, there is one talent she does have, which is spreading her legs!"

"Damn it Holly, that's enough!" Tori watched in anger as her father yelled at his wife and her mother. She wanted to do the same, but she didn't have the words to do so, and she wasn't sure how it would work out if she tried to tell off her parents, something she hadn't done before.

What made Tori even more upset was that her own mother, of all people, had been the one to accuse Trina of sleeping around. Tori had heard many rumors that suggested her older sister had done so, but Trina shot them down. Trina may have been bratty, conceited, self-absorbed, and as shown with recording "You're The Reason" and spreading rumors about dating Beck, she had even lied sometimes. But one thing that Tori felt sure of was that Trina wasn't a slut or whore.

Still unaware of Trina's presence on the stairs, and still hearing her parents argue back and forth, Tori decided to end it with a loud yelling of "both of you shut the hell up!" Surprised and somewhat upset with their daughter's choice of words, Mr. and Mrs. Vega wanted to respond, but could not do so as Tori began to speak up again.

"You know, I always thought Trina acted like she did for no reason. But now I see that I was wrong. Sure, she talks about herself all the time, and she acts like the world revolves around her, but maybe it's because she has to. She has to make herself feel important because nobody else would do it, especially not the two of you. Neither one of you gives a damn about Trina, because if you did, you wouldn't talk about her the way you just did."

Wanting to dispute their youngest daughter's claims, David walked over to Tori as she tried to fight back tears. "Listen, Tori. We - "

"No, Dad, you listen. It's one thing that people at school said what they said about her. But how the hell can the two of you, as our parents, say what you just said?" After wiping her eyes, Tori thought back to what her mother had just said minutes earlier, and realized it was necessary to point out her flaws since Holly had enough nerve to speak ill of Trina.

"And Mom, you don't have any room _at all _ to talk about someone doing nothing or spreading their legs, not after what you've done!"

"What I've done? You don't know anything about what I've done," Holly said.

"Okay, so you're gonna sit here and just pretend that you're not a cheater?" Once Tori asked the question, it was inevitable what she was about to point out. "Dad puts his life on the line every day to provide for all of us, and what does he get in return? He gets an ungrateful excuse of a wife who goes behind his back and fucks his partner of all people!"

Mr. and Mrs. Vega both watched as Tori paced back and forth to try and cool off. Both of them, especially Holly, wanted to confront her for what she had just said, but deep down, it seemed pointless, because they knew that their daughter was telling the truth.

"Tori," David called out, wanting to talk about what just happened, and maybe even come to a solution. But Tori wanted no part of it.

"No, no, no. Just save it," she responded. "Whatever you have to say, I don't wanna hear it right now."

And with that, Tori began the walk back upstairs to her room. Having just heard what occured downstairs, Trina just barely made it back to her own room before her younger sister could know she was there.

Both girls, unaware of each other's feelings, were understandably hurt by what they had just heard. Tori was angry that they could speak about Trina in that manner, and Trina was upset that she pretty much meant nothing to her parents. Even though they hadn't said it outright, what they did say spoke volumes in her mind, and it also pushed her to her breaking point.

Both of the girls had ended up in their rooms crying, on one hand, because of what had been said in the kitchen, and then on the other, out of concern for their sibling. When Trina heard Tori crying in her room, she wiped away her own tears and went to console her younger sister.

After a quick "are you okay" from Trina, Tori began to explain what had just happened minutes earlier, only to be interrupted by Trina telling her that she knew about it because she overheard the conversation. Tori, surprised by her older sister's perceived lack of concern, anger or frustration, began to wonder if she even cared about what their parents just said about her. Trina said that while she was upset, she wasn't surprised, as she felt lately that they didn't think too highly of her, and what they said only removed her doubt.

"But what about Mom and Dad?" Tori asked. "Aren't you gonna say anything to them?"

"Listen, don't worry about them. They're my problem, so just leave them to me, okay?"

After exchanging hugs and I-love-you's, Trina went back to her room and began the process of what soon would be the biggest decision she had ever made. First, she gathered every important document that she may have needed and stuffed it inside of her backpack. Then after that, she took the biggest suitcase she had in her possession and filled it with all of the clothes she could without struggling to close it.

After preparing a few more changes of clothes and putting them in her backpack with some of her grooming and hygiene products, Trina was finally finished, with the exception of one final, difficult task.

Taking a seat on her bed after grabbing a notebook from her dresser, Trina started on what was basically her goodbye letter. What it lacked in length, it was compensated for with intent. She left nothing unsaid in her letter, despite there not being much in there to read.

When she had finished the letter, she decided to go to bed, seeing as how she needed all the sleep she could get for what she planned to do.

The next morning, Trina was the first one to wake up in the house, and having packed her things the night before, all that was left to do was to get dressed, leave the note and go.

However, after showering and getting dressed, Trina did stop and head to Tori's room to say goodbye to her younger sister. She thought that she owed her that much, since Tori had enough decency to stand up to their parents on her behalf.

"Trina, what are you doing in here? I'm trying to go to sleep," the younger Vega sister said after her older sibling woke her up.

"Listen Tori, I need you to get up. It's important," she responded.

"What's so important that you had to wake me up so early?"

"Okay, just listen to me for a second," Trina began. "I have to go somewhere for a while, and I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"Are you... Are you running away? Is this about last night?"

"No, I'm not running away, because if I was, I wouldn't even tell you. I'm just going somewhere for a while, and I just needed to get away from home."

"Seriously, is everything okay, Trina?" Tori was concerned that their parents' comments from the night before had done unrepairable damage to her older sister's psyche, and it would drive her to do something horrible.

"I'm fine, baby sister," Trina said, using her old nickname for her younger sibling. "I'm just leaving for a little while, that's all."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm not really sure, it's just a spur-of-the-moment road trip. And the only reason I'm not taking you is because I know you're taking the trip with Jade and everybody else," Trina reminded Tori, referring to her trip to Mexico that was coming up. "But listen, I will let you know when I get where I'm going. Just don't say anything to... Mom and Dad."

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay? And why can't I tell them about this?"

"I'll be fine, Tori, and besides, they won't care if I'm gone. Hell, they'll probably be thrilled about it."

Aware that her younger sister still wasn't convinced that things were okay, Trina reached over and put her hand on Tori's shoulder as they locked eyes with each other. "Listen Tori, everything's gonna be fine. I'm not leaving forever, just for a little while. And don't worry about anything. I'll call you to let you know how things are going."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be okay." With that, Trina reached up and hugged Tori, and they told each other 'I love you' before Trina finally left the room and Tori went back to sleep.

After picking up her bags, Trina went out the door and headed to her car, but not before walking into her parents' room and leaving the note on their nightstand next to her dad's side of the bed. On one hand, there was a brief moment where Trina wondered if she could have stuck around and talked it out with her parents, and in reality, had it been the first tine that they said what they did the night before, then that's probably what she would have done.

But because of what they said the previous evening, along with the countless amount of other occasions where they had insulted her, Trina felt that their words were clear signs of how they really felt about her, and that she had no reason to believe otherwise. And since Mr. Vega had said that he wanted her to go "far, far away" when she went to college, she figured that now was the perfect time to fulfill her dad's wishes. She wasn't going to college, at least in the foreseeable future, but wherever Trina was going, it was definitely a long way from Los Angeles. In a way, she didn't wanna leave, and she was even scared to do so. But it was a chance to start over, and if she had to go cross-country to do so, then so be it. Plus, her parents would need to learn the hard way just how badly they screwed up, something they couldn't do if she stayed.

Trina saw this as a moment of clarity, and with all doubt removed, she pulled away from the house she called home for her entire life, and she began her self-imposed exile from L.A.

The effect that Trina's departure had on Mr. and Mrs. Vega wasn't known until later that morning, when the two of them read her note shortly after they both woke up. David had read the note first, and his feeling of shock immediately gave him the urge to wake Holly and tell her what their oldest daughter had just said and done. But he didn't have to say anything, because his once-adulterous spouse was going to be shocked plenty when she herself read their oldest daughter's scathing farewell.

_"Dear Mom and Dad... what a joke that is to say. If the two of you are reading this, then you might know that I left away from this so-called 'home'. But you probably don't care. I mean, you did say you wanted me to go 'far, far away', right, Dad? Hell, you're probably celebrating the fact that I'm gone. But hey, don't worry about me. Because as happy as you are that I left, I'm just as happy that I'm not there with you. Why spend time with someone who thinks my only talent is spreading my legs? Well, Mom, what can I say? If I am good at that, it's because I learned from you. If anyone knows about leg-spreading, it's Holly Vega!_

_I heard everything you said to Tori last night. Thank GOD she stood up for me, because if not, then I couldn't trust anybody in this so-called family._

_But that's not what this is about. The point is that I'm gone now. I'm not sure where I'm going, I don't know when I'm coming back, and honestly, I don't know if I'm coming back. What would I be coming back to? The two of you don't give a damn about me, Tori's got her own life to look forward to, and even though I've made peace with them, her friends only put up with me because of her._

_I gotta start over, and to do that, I need to get away from here, and I need to get away from you. It doesn't help me to stay where I'm not wanted, and if I can't turn to my own family, then who can I turn to?_

_I don't know what it's gonna be like between us in the future, but as for right now, I'm done with you. The both of you may not care about how I feel or that I'm gone, but you both should understand that I left because of you. I wasn't the best daughter I could have been, but I deserved better than what you've done as parents in the last few years._

_If Tori ends up reading this, I want her to know that I'm sorry for leaving like this. Baby sister, I didn't leave because of you, and I want you to know that I love you. I know that I'm having issues with... Mom and Dad, but it doesn't mean I'm mad at you. I'm not there in L.A. anymore, but if you need anything, you can still come to me for help._

_As for you, Mom and Dad, if you decide that you wanna be better parents, then maybe we'll deal with each other at some point. But until then, I don't wanna see you or talk to you again. Unless you're gonna apologize, don't bother trying to contact me, because you most likely won't get a response._

_Sincerely, your oldest daughter, and big sister, Katrina Daniella Vega."_

No sooner than they had finished reading the letter, Mrs. Vega, who had already began crying, practically turned into a bawling mess in front of her husband. Meanwhile, the shock of reading the letter was slowly setting into Mr. Vega's psyche. As he saw Holly crying next to him, all he could think to say was, "Trina's gone," repeating it one more time before rushing out of their bedroom to find Tori.

Not being able to find her in her own bedroom, David ran downstairs to the living room, where he saw his youngest daughter eating fudge-flavored Rock-Tarts and laughing at a rerun of _Girly Cow. _Once he had Tori's attention, he told her that Trina was gone. Unaware of what her older sibling had done, she brushed it off by simply assuming that Trina was out for the day and would be back that evening. But when Mr. Vega showed Tori the letter that Trina wrote before she left, her mood quickly shifted, and what started out as a happy morning suddenly turned sad and heartbreaking.

Tori herself began crying on the couch closest to the kitchen, then after a while, stopped to ask if Mrs. Vega knew that Trina was gone. After saying that she did know and that she was crying in their bedroom, Mr. Vega listened as Tori stated that it was his and Mrs. Vega's fault for Trina leaving, and that she wouldn't have done so if they hadn't treated and talked about her the way the had. Mrs. Vega, who walked downstairs when Tori began her rant, suggested that instead of arguing, it would be a better idea to try calling Trina in order to find out where she was.

Mr. and Mrs. Vega both tried to call Trina first, and just like the letter had said, they didn't get any response. Tori hadn't got a response either, but it was because her call had went straight to voicemail.

After trying again for several hours, Tori ended up getting a text from Trina, explaining that she was still driving around, and was only able to text her because she made a stop. When Tori asked where she was, Trina didn't tell her, due to her thinking that she would tell their parents, but she did say that when she finally found a place to sleep for the night,, she would call her or text her back.

"So where'd you end up when you finally decided to stop?" Freddie asked.

"I was in Austin by the time I stopped," Trina replied. "I didn't have any set destination when I left that morning, so I just drove east when I got in the car. By the time I got there, I figured that I had been riding around long enough, it was late, and I was getting tired, so I went ahead and looked for a room, and luckily, I didn't have to look too long."

"For some reason, I get the feeling you stayed there."

"Yeah, I did. At first, I had only planned on being there for a few days, but once I did a little research and went around town, I thought that it was a good place to start over."

Sure enough, as Trina had found out, the city of Austin had a great deal of opportunity. Of course, as the home of the University of Texas, Austin was a college town, and with a college town came plenty of bars and restaraunts. This was only amplified by the fact that Austin was also home to the well-known SXSW (South By Southwest) Festival. Those factors, along with the apparent modeling and acting opportunities that were available, made it easier for Trina to declare the town as her new home, even if it was only temporary.

In the first few months, her time in Austin had turned out well. She landed a few modeling gigs, and even got parts in a few commercials around town. She understood, though, that nothing from that point was guaranteed, so for a stable source of income, she began working at a local Orangefly's. When this proved not to be enough, she started dancing at a club named The Naked Longhorn under the stage name of Jackie, the first name she once used in the scheme involving Jade's play "Well Wishes".

"So, you went from 'Trina Vega, aspiring diva' to 'Trina Vega, actress, model, waitress and stripper'?" Freddie asked jokingly.

"I prefer the term 'exotic dancer', but yeah, I was all of those things," Trina responded with a laugh.

"So what was _that_ like?"

"It was... okay, kind of. You know, aside from the perverts who liked to play 'grab-ass' or begged me to sleep with them, and the angry women who got mad that their husbands and boyfriends were getting dances from a 'sleazy whore', it wasn't so bad."

"Somebody called you a sleazy whore?"

"Among other things."

"Ah. But seriously, what made you do it?"

"Well, money was one reason. As much as I like being a waitress, it doesn't pay enough, and the modeling gigs and commercials weren't guaranteed. So I needed something steady and well-paying. And well, still being kind of stuck in my old ways, I thought that I had to do it in order to prove that I wasn't worthless, and that I was really as important as I thought I was."

"So basically, you stripped to make money and feed your ego?"

"Well, when you say it like that, you make it sound dirty." Trina was able to make light of the situation now, but it was harder to deal with back then, as it was a small boulder on a mountain of personal issues.

"What was it like for you, you know, while you were out there?"

"Being in Austin in general, it was good. It was a nice place, there was a lot of fun places to go to and things to do. I even made some friends out there."

"Then why not stay?"

"Well, one reason is that I started to get homesick. As good as it was to be in Austin, I missed being in L.A. And after a while, I kind of came to the conclusion that being there was making me run away from my problems instead of facing and owning up to them. And let's face it, it's pretty hard to do in a phone call, text message or a SlapBook status."

"I can understand that. Did you ever talk to any of them while you were gone? I mean your parents, Tori and her friends."

"Tori, I talked to almost every day. I think there may have been three or four times where I hadn't talked to her on the phone, and even then, we would text each other. We would video chat at least once a week, and she even came to visit a few times."

"That's good. What about Jade, Beck, Cat, Robbie and André?"

"I had talked to them every now then. I never really saw them again in person until I came back here a couple of years ago, but sometimes we would call or text each other, and then on other occasions, we would video chat or talk somewhere else online."

"Did they ever ask about why you left?"

"No, but then again, they didn't have to, because they found out the day it happened." When Tori spent a great part of the day not answering any calls, it resulted in a visit to the Vega residence by Jade and André. After both of them finished expressing that they had tried to get in touch with her throughout the day, the younger Vega sister explained the departure of Trina and what caused it, which then led them to console Tori, along with the rest of the group when they had arrived.

"What did you say when you finally did talk to them?"

"At first, we just said our hi's and asked each other how we were doing. Oddly enough, everybody made it a point to ask about me and how I had been since I left, which was a surprise, because I remember there was a point in time when they couldn't care less if I fell off the face of the Earth, much less ran away to another state."

"Well, if anyone's parents treated their kids the way your mom and dad treated you, then it would be a cause of concern for anybody. Besides, you did say that you reconciled with all of them when you graduated."

"True, but still, between what my parents said, and what they said in the past, it took some time to get used to the idea that they could actually give a shit about how I was doing. After a while, though, I didn't really think about it that way."

"Okay, so you cleared up Tori, Jade, Beck André, Robbie and Cat. But..."

"You wanna know about my parents."

"Well yeah. I mean, I know that they're the reason why you left, and I can only guess that once you got to Austin, you didn't talk to them right away. But did you ever work things out with them?"

"Hmm... how can I say this. I did work things out with my mom and dad, and at the very least, we're trying to fix our relationship now, but when I left L.A. and went to Austin, it took _a long time_ before I could even ask about them, let alone talk to them. Anytime I talked to Tori or any of my other relatives, and they told me how much my parents missed me and were worried about me, I usually brushed it off or got sarcastic about it, like 'sure they do' or 'yeah, I bet they're crushed by me leaving'."

"And what did they say after that?"

"Usually, they would tell me that I shouldn't be that way, or they would say that they understood that I was upset, but it wasn't good for me to hold a grudge. One of my aunts even called herself trying to scold me for not talking to my parents. At first, I tried to let it go, but the more she talked, the more frustrated I became, and well, after a while, I just snapped."

During that point of the conversation, Trina went off, leading her to ask how her aunt would feel if her grandparents talked to her or Mr. Vega that way, which left the older woman stunned. Trina then took time to call her aunt out for the way she apparently had been treating her own children lately. Trina's verbal massacre practically ended the talk between herself and her aunt, which finished only after she told Trina to concern herself with her relationship with her parents, and she would handle her relationship with her children. Needless to say, that made yet another family member who was on Trina's bad side.

"So when did you finally talk to your mom and dad?" Freddie asked Trina, still somewhat baffled by her story about her argument with her aunt.

"By the time I talked to them, it was almost Thanksgiving... and when I talked to them, it was because they called me again and I finally decided to answer."

"I'm guessing that it wasn't a really pleasant conversation."

"Nope. It wasn't horrible, but given the fact that it took just over five months, it wasn't all that happy." To Trina's credit, she wasn't lying. While she hadn't been yelled at or scolded for her sudden departure and the fact that she hadn't told anyone besides Tori where she was, she did hear quite an earful about not calling them or answering their own calls, and like any seemingly concerned parent, Mrs. Vega hit Trina with the good old "we were worried sick" speech. But more importantly, both she and Mr. Vega went on about how much they missed her and how sorry they were for their past behavior towards her. Long story short, Trina didn't believe a word of it.

She eventually hung up, but not before warning her parents that she was serious about what she said in her goodbye letter, and that there was a long way for them to go before she could seriously talk to them again, let alone trust them. Their next conversation didn't come until the following month for Christmas.

"So what was it like after that? Had they really changed, or was it - "

"Was it all bullshit, you mean?" Trina asked once she cut Freddie off. Realizing what she had done, she saw that an apology was in order. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just, you know, it's still kind of hard to talk about."

"I know. I get it. Not a subject that's fun to discuss."

"Exactly. But anyway, to answer your question, the few times we talked while I was in Austin, they seemed like they had changed, and so far since I've been back in L.A., I could say the same thing. But I wonder a lot whether they've really changed, or if it's just the big act they've been pulling because I haven't completely forgiven them."

"Well... this is probably a stupid question, but what's stopping you from truly forgiving them?"

"It's just that... the last few years, they've treated me with some respect, but at the same time, I've been keeping my distance, and I'm really, really scared that if I let them all the way back into my life, then they'll..." Trina paused in the middle of her statement, and in a matter of seconds, she began breaking down into tears.

"It's okay, Trina. It's okay." As he said this, Freddie held on to his friend and tried wiping off her face, but it was practically pointless, as the waitress and former stripper was still crying.

"I can't trust my parents, Freddie," she explained to the former webshow producer. "If I open back up to them, then they'll go back to the way they used to be. I love my mom and dad, but I hate them for how they treated me. I don't want them to have another chance to hurt me again."

The hand around the waist and rub of the back that Freddie handed out just seconds earlier turned into an outright hug, which Trina returned easily. Still holding the slightly older woman in his arms, he sensed a chance to console and encourage her all in one sentence.

"Look, I'm not an expert, and I don't know your parents as well as you do, but I think that now they know how badly they screwed up before. Maybe you could try talking to them and seeing them a little more often, and if they're for real, then it would be worth trying to rebuild your relationship with them, and if they're really their same old selves, then just do what you did before: leave them alone. You don't have to bolt out of town again like you did four years ago or anything. Just ignore them."

"You make it sound so easy," Trina said as she looked at Freddie when they finally let each other go.

"Oh no, it's not easy. I know it wouldn't be easy however it turned out," the Seattle native responded. "But somehow, that might be the solution."

With most of her tears gone, Trina wiped away what was left from her sudden breakdown. Nearly as soon as she finished, the course of events that happened since she and Freddie ran into each other suddenly dawned on her.

"This is really something, huh?"

"What is?"

"This whole day. I mean, it's the first time we've seen each other in person since high school, and in the space of almost nine hours, we ate lunch together in the restaraunt I work at, we find out that we live in the same apartment on the same floor, and we've been spilling our guts to each other for the last however many minutes. I don't know about you, but I didn't see this happening when I woke up this morning."

"Well, it's not like I saw it either. I just expected to go about my day with no real surprises or new twists. I didn't think I would have a lunch date or a new neighbor, or that the woman in those roles would end up crying on my couch."

Trina laughed at the last part of Freddie's statement, not lost on the fact that most guys might not handle it well.

"Thanks for that, by the way. I mean, listening to me and comforting me when I did cry. It's been a whie since I've been around someone who was willing to hear me out."

"What about Tori and her friends, or the people you met in Austin?"

"I didn't really feel like bringing it up with them. Even though Tori's my sister, and her friends are my friends too now, I didn't really think I could go to them with all of my problems. As for the friends I made in Austin, I never really went into great detail with them about my life before I got there. I just told them enough to keep myself from seeming like I was... creepy and mysterious."

"Well, as far as me listening to you, you're welcome. I know we haven't really seen or heard a lot from each other over the years, but we are friends, more or less. If you can't open up to your friends, then who can you open up to?"

No sooner than he finished talking, both Freddie and Trina looked at each other, and to the both of them, the look in the other person's eyes seemed to say that they had spent enough time talking, and the moment finally came where they should start doing... each other. Finally, he moved in towards her and kissed her, which eventually led to their hands wrapping around each other - her hands all over his back, and his hands gripping her waist.

**(Continued in chapter 3.)**


	3. The Couch, The Bed And The Shower

They kept kissing a little longer, but had stopped when Freddie began to back away with a slightly nervous look on his face.

"Are you okay?" Trina asked, somewhat nervous herself, especially now since he broke off the kiss. The thought that she was scaring him off creeped through her mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered. "It's just..."

"You don't wanna do this, do you?"

"Yeah, I do. But do you want to?" No matter how different Freddie had become over the years, one thing that hadn't changed was his gentleman-like nature, and he wasn't gonna go through with any of this if Trina didn't want to. With that said...

"I wanna do this, a lot more than you know." Now, without any sense of hesitation between the two of them, they picked up where they had left off. Eventually, Freddie found himself on top of Trina with her legs around his waist. After a little more kissing, this scenario changed as she playfully wrestled with him until she was the one on top. Another minute or so would pass before Trina came to the conclusion that there was only so much fun to have in their current state.

"Wait, what are - "

"Trust me, you'll like this." And with that, Trina began stripping out of every bit of her clothes. First the flip-flops, then the shirt and bra, and finally came her shorts and thong. While in the process of watching her get naked, Freddie went ahead and started to take off his own clothes. After he took off his T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, he had began to remove his boxers, when at the last second, he had heard:

"You don't need to take those off... yet." The quiet yet seductive warning was enough to stop him in his tracks. That didn't last long though, as Trina sat right back next to him again. Then when a few more seconds had passed, the naked waitress snuck a hand inside and began to stroke Freddie.

Barely able to handle being jerked off through his boxers, and not wanting Trina to have all the fun, Freddie ran his hands over her legs until he found her hot spot. When he did so, he rubbed her clit furiously, eventually leading to a chorus of oohs, aahs, and even a few "oh my GODs".

"How is that? You like it?" the former tech producer asked as he kept his hands occupied on her clit and breasts.

"Yeah. It's... it's so good."

"Well, not as good as what I'm about to do." On that note, Freddie got off of the couch and kneeled in front of Trina. Then once he pulled her closer towards him, he went face-first in between her legs and got down to business. With each second that Freddie spent with his tongue on Trina's clit, it drove the woman wild, and this feeling only grew when he stuck his tongue in and out of her vagina. Minutes had passed, and the older Vega sister managed to fill the apartment with loud moans, whimpers and even a scream of two. And once Freddie started feeling adventurous and licked inside of her other hole, it finally drove Trina over the edge.

"Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh! Ohhh! Oh my GOD! Fuck yes, Freddie, you feel so good!" For him, the loud expression, which also led to her wrapping her legs even tighter around his neck, was a sign to keep going. While Trina wouldn't have minded that at all, she also wanted Freddie to feel what she just felt, or something mighty close to that. So after a few more seconds of being put through unspeakable bliss, Trina felt it was about time to put a end to Freddie's oral assault, and provide him with one of her own.

"Fr - Freddie. Freddie, stop," Trina stuttered out as she lightly tapped his head to get his attention.

"What's the matter, is something wrong?" Freddie asked as he looked up.

"No, nothing's wrong at all. That was actually pretty amazing, which is why I can't let you do all of the work. Come here." With just enough energy to sit up straight, Trina pulled Freddie off of the floor until he sat down on the couch next to her. With his boxers gone, Trina positioned herself on her knees from his left and stuck her head in his lap. After a couple of quick strokes, Trina began to suck off Freddie, attacking his penis as if it was water and she had been dying of thirst in the desert. The blowjob was having a great effect on him, and while he wasn't as loud as Trina had been when he was eating her out, Freddie had a few of his own moans and groans to let out, which motivated her even further.

"Ahh... ahh shit, Trina. _Que es tan buena, chica_ (that is so good, girl)," Freddie told her as she kept sucking.

"_Que desea que el bebé _(you like that, baby)?" Trina responded as she pulled him out of her mouth and stroked him.

"Yeah, that's... that's incredible. You're incredible."

"Glad that you like it, 'cause I'm not done." In a matter of seconds, Trina got on the floor and in between Freddie's legs. Not too long after, she took a few more sucks before she placed his dick between her breats and used them to jack him off some more. In just a few more seconds, Trina began to multi-task, balancing a blowjob and titfuck on Freddie's manhood. He seemed to be feeling the same kind of satisfaction he gave Trina just minutes earlier, or at the very least, he was getting to that point.

"Is that good, baby? You like how I'm working your dick with my mouth and my _tetas _(breasts)?"

"_Si chica, me gusta mucho _(yes girl, I like it a lot)." Trina kept going a little longer, but eventually stopped as she had sensed that Freddie might have came if she didn't. With both of the 20-somethings having their fill of oral stimulation for the time being, Trina hopped back on Freddie's lap, which led to another makeout session. Feeling his hard-on rub against her ass, she came to the realization that things would heat up more if they were somewhere else in the apartment.

"You know what I think?"

"What's that?"

"As much fun as we've had on this couch, we should probably finish this off somewhere else."

"Well, I know just the place." Freddie then lifted Trina off of him and stood up from the couch. Once they were both standing, he took her by the hand and led her to his bedroom. Before they made it all the way to his bed, they started kissing yet again, but this time, they were also keeping their hands busy. She was jacking him off one more time, while he grabbed a handful of her butt, even stopping to give it a few slaps. When they finally managed to let go of each other, Trina laid back on Freddie's bed, as he finished what she started on the way to grab a condom from his dresser.

After scrambling through the selection of latex, he took out a Spartan "Almost Raw" rubber, a decision influenced by the idea that wearing this would feel almost as good as not using any protection.

Not wanting to keep Trina waiting any longer, especially after seeing her "rub one out" on his bed, he made a speedy effort to put on the condom and join her on the mattress. Following another quick kiss, Freddie centered himself between her legs and pushed them back as far as they could go without them being behind her head. Then after a few teasing rubs and a slow push, Freddie finally made his way inside of Trina.

To start off, he went at a semi-slow pace, with the idea of both of them easing into it in mind. But when a few more minutes had passed, he began going inside faster, eventually pumping inside of the former stripper like his life depended on it. Trina's moans, like Freddie's thrusts, had increased, and they had also gotten louder. This didn't change when he decided to kiss the bottom of her feet and lick in between her toes. That last part, along with him continuing to pound inside her pussy, garnered a short but repeated chorus of "oh shit." Even with the condom on, Freddie felt how wet Trina had become, leading him to believe she had came at least once already. With a few more strokes, which led him to let out a few moans of his own, he began to slow down from his rabbit-like humping, leading her to verbally tease him.

"You're not quitting on me already, are you, Benson?"

"No, Vega. I wanted to slow down because I thought you might need a break."

"Well, in a little while, you'll be the one who needs a break."

"And what makes you say that?" No sooner than he had asked, Freddie suddenly found himself pinned down on his back in the same spot where Trina just was.

"Because if I could work a stripper pole, then I'm sure that I could work yours. Now shut up and enjoy the ride." In a matter of seconds, she lowered herself back down onto his rod, slowly moving her ass and hips in his lap. It didn't take long, though, for Trina to speed up the pace of her movement, so much to the point where she had gripped onto his shoulders as she rocked up and down on top of Freddie.

"Ahhh yeah. That's it, that's it," Freddie blurted out at one point. Sure enough, he was "enjoying the ride, but judging from the sound of her moans and the feeling of her wetness, so was Trina.

"Oh, GOD! Oh, GOD! Oh, GOD! Oh, GOD! Fuck me, Freddie, fuck me! Fuck me! Yes!" Without warning, Trina rode herself into another orgasm. Sure, "the ride" was having an effect on her newly discovered neighbor, but oddly enough, it had more of one on her.

"I'm not the only one enjoying the ride, now am I?" Freddie asked.

"Maybe not, but don't get too excited, because I'm not done with you yet."

"And who said I was done with you, 'Jackie'?"

"Hey!" Trina yelled jokingly.

"You said you used to work poles. I'm just showing respect to your old alias."

"Well, that's nice, but show some respect to my cunt and keep fucking me."

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." Freddie used this opportunity to lift himself up with his hips to pump inside of Trina as if he was still on top of her, and not the other way around. The move sent the waitress over the edge yet again, causing another round of cry-resembling moans. He continued to "hip pump" himself inside of her, but eventually, he began doing so in a position that could be referred to as "sideways cowgirl". Already in a deep state of pleasure, the current position had put Trina on "cloud nine", and with every extra second that Freddie spent pushing in and out of her, she lost whatever control she had left. So by the time he decided to try a different position, she was barely able to stand.

With most of the feeling gone from her legs, Trina was now bent over, her hands on the middle of Freddie's bed. Before he got back to thrusting his way through her walls, he decided to do some more work of the oral variety. Face-first into Trina's backside, he put a literal meaning to the term "tongue lashing", licking the clit and both holes of the Hollywood Arts graduate. Once he finished his orgasmic lickfest, Freddie slowly and softly placed Trina flat on her stomach. Just as he was about to slide back inside of her, she decided that she wanted to do something different.

"Freddie, can you do something for me?"

"What's that?"

"I want you right here," she said to Freddie, staring back at him as she swirled her left middle finger around her asshole.

"You really want that?" On one hand, he seemed intrigued and even a little turned on by the idea. But like he had done just minutes earlier, he made sure there was no doubt about what she was trying to do.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want it. Besides, you've already licked it, so why not stick it?"

"Alright then." Not needing any more convincing, Freddie grabbed a bottle of lube out of his dresser, then squirted some on his condom-covered shaft and on Trina's backdoor.

"You ready?" She nodded her head "yes" in response, and with that, he placed himself between her legs and headed for her smaller hole. "If it hurts, let me know and I'll stop." Freddie then pushed slowly inside of her, a move that was met with a wincing moan. He gently began to slide in and out, placing his hands on her shoulders as he slowly poked his way through his neighbor's "brown eye". At one point, Freddie began to slap Trina on her ass once he started to speed up inside of her. Of course, because it was the tighter hole, it was hurting a bit, but the amount of pleasure she felt far outweighed the pain.

"Oh, oh my GOD, oh my GOD. Don't stop, Freddie. Please don't stop." The cries of pleasure and encouragement drove Freddie to pick up the pace even further, pumping in and out of her faster and harder as time went on. After a few more strokes, he eventually laid down on top of Trina and kissed her as he pushed his way through. As she kissed back, she moved her hips to keep up with his rhythm. The pair kept on like this for another five minutes, and after spending the better part of the hour working Trina into an orgasmic frenzy, Freddie was about to reach his breaking point.

"I'm about to... shit, I'm about to cum."

"Cum for me. Wherever you want, just cum for me, baby."

Wanting to take Trina's advice, but not able to pull out fast enough, Freddie stayed inside of Trina, allowing his seed to spill inside of the latex shield. But even with that, the feeling of him still being in her turned her on, causing her to shiver underneath him. Freddie did eventually pull out, tossing the condom into the trash can near his door, and then finally laying down next to Trina. This quickly changed whe she rolled over and climbed on top of him, then started kissing him yet again.

**(9:00 PM)**

"Well, that was fun," Trina said.

"Yeah, it was. We might have to do that again sometime," Freddie responded.

"I wouldn't mind that. You were quite impressive, mister."

"Thank you, I have my ways."

"Who knew there was such a dirty boy under that nerdy exterior?" The waitress' observation got a laugh from the graphic/web designer.

"Hey, I'm not the only 'dirty' one in this bed right now. I believe you said something earlier about knowing how to work poles, and something tells me that you don't just mean mine, or the ones at The Naked Longhorn."

"And just what are you trying to say, Mr. Benson?" Trina asked, pretending to be angry. "Okay, I can admit, I've charmed a few snakes in my lifetime, especially when I went to Austin. Don't get it wrong, I didn't go around sleeping with anybody and everybody, but I'm not necessarily 'Miss Innocent' either."

"Well, 'Miss Innocent' or not, I gotta admit my snake was charmed." Freddie's comment got a laugh out of the former stripper. After a few seconds of silence however, Trina had thought about a vital piece of information she hadn't heard from the one-time tech producer.

"This is kind of... an awkward thing to point out, considering what we just did and said, but... when we talked about our lives earlier, I told you about my parents and Tori, and you told me about Carly, Sam and your mom, but what about your dad?"

"My dad, he died when I was six years old," Freddie told her in a somber voice.

"I - I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me, but... what happened to him?"

"He died in a car accident about week before Thanksgiving." In the early evening hours of November 15, 2000, Leonard Benson was on the way to pick up dinner for himself, Freddie and Marissa just minutes after he returned home from work. Realizing that both he and Marissa had endured a grueling day at their respective jobs, Leonard suggested that rather than either one of them cooking, he would make a trip to McArthur's to pick up some burgers instead.

When he left home, it had began raining, as it so often does in Seattle. However, in the time that he was out, it began to pour down quite hard, which affected Leonard's visibility out on the road. Despite this, he managed to avoid any trouble so far. But when he reached the halfway point between the Benson home and McArthur's, as he turned onto another street, a man in another car suddenly rammed into the front of Leonard's vehicle. Both men had been severely injured, and they were knocked unconscious almost immediately.

In a matter of just a few minutes, a pair of ambulances came to take the men to the hospital. The paramedics acted in a swift and relentless manner in order to save both men. But unfortunately for Leonard, the paramedics and doctors' efforts were not enough, and at 6:49 PM, he was pronounced dead. The other driver did manage to survive, but this was only after an emergency surgery and nearly a week in intensive care.

Leonard's funeral was exactly one week after the accident. Needless to say, Freddie and Marissa, as well as members of both sides of the family and friends who attended, were riddled with a great amount of grief. The one upside, if there was one, was that during an investigation of the accident, it was confirmed that neither Leonard or the other driver, a man in his mid-20's named Steve, had been high or drunk at the time, and that the crash was a result of Steve losing control of his car because of the conditions caused by the rain. This fact, however, did nothing to relieve Freddie and Marissa's sadness, or take away from Steve's guilt.

"I'm really sorry, Freddie. I... I know it must be hard on you not having your dad around." Trina's relationship with her parents was rocky, but they were still alive, and even if she didn't want to, she could talk to and see them if it was necessary. But Freddie didn't have that luxury with his dad.

"It - It's okay, I mean, it wasn't easy to deal with then, and it's still kind of difficult now. It doesn't matter how long it's been, or how old I get. I'm always gonna miss my dad."

Freddie and Trina spent a few more minutes talking about his dad, how he was as a father and a person, and the effect his death had on Freddie and Mrs. Benson, among other things. One issue in particular that Freddie pointed out was that as bad as it had hurt him, Mr. Benson dying was even harder on Mrs. Benson, and in Freddie's eyes, it was the reason why she had become so paranoid and overprotective as he got older. This only grew worse once he began hanging out with Carly and Sam.

"She thought they were a bad influence on you, basically," Trina observed.

"'Bad influence' is putting it lightly. My mom freaks out about everything to a degree," Freddie answered. "Germs, food, TV, my body hair, but girls, especially Carly and Sam, are a huge deal to her when it comes to me, at least they were back then."

"Come on, was it really that bad?"

"'Was it really that bad?' Okay, let me ask you something. Did your dad ever accuse any guy of driving your or Tori's 'girl chemistry' out of whack, or try beating them with a pair of your underwear because he caught you making out with them?"

"Wait, wait, wait. Your mom used a pair of underwear, your underwear, to hit somebody because you were kissing them?"

"She used my underwear to hit _Carly _because we were kissing each other."

"So, you make out with your best friend, and she ends up getting assaulted by your mom?"

"Yeah, and then she got drenched in anti-bacterial spray."

"Wow. I don't... I don't know what to say to that. My dad used to always remind us about telling other people that he was a cop, but he never did anything that crazy."

"Yeah. I love my mom, but she's... she's crazy, and dare I say, somewhat of a whackjob. I could tell you all of the other insane stuff I've been through because of her, but if I did, we would be here all weekend."

"I wouldn't mind being here that long, even if it did include hearing all of the embarrassing things your mom did to you."

"Maybe that's true, but I'm getting the feeling that if you spent the weekend here, it would be for another reason, like us screwing each other's brains out again."

"That wouldn't hurt either. You know, not in a bad way." The pair briefly laughed at this, and then a thought came to Trina about what was next, and she felt the need to address it as soon as possible.

"So... being here in bed with you is fun and everything. But I was wondering what's next between us. You know, where are we going from here?"

"I was kind of thinking about asking you that. It's... I mean, it's kind of crazy. We jumped a lot of steps, and we went really far, really fast. I don't regret it at all, it's just that I wasn't expecting to be in this position today."

"Is it because of me?"

"No, it's not. Not in a bad way, anyway. It's just that we hadn't seen each other in person for years, and after today, I didn't think we would see each other again for a few days at least. And then there's what happened last night."

"What did happen last night?"

"I went to the bar with a few friends from work, and while I was there, I talked to some women, and I even left out of there with a few phone numbers. I had definitely planned on calling them at some point."

"But...?"

"But now, because of what's happened today, I'm in a tight spot. I don't wanna just blow them off, but I don't really see a point in making a move with one of them if I'm gonna go forward with you."

"You - you really wanna go out with me?" On the outside, Trina sounded calm, at worst, a litte nonchalant. But deep down, she was excited with the idea of dating Freddie. Between her history with guys at Hollywood Arts, where they either rejected her outright, or they lied to get away from her, and the men she came across while she was in Austin, where every so often, she found one who was good enough to take home but not good enough to keep around, her luck with the male gender was okay at best. But now, with Freddie, she finally was around someone who at least appeared to like her as much as she liked him.

"Yeah, I do wanna go out," Freddie answered the waitress' earlier question. "I mean, I'm not entirely sure what it is yet, but you stick out from all the other girls I've been with."

"It wouldn't happen to be because I just slept with you, would it?" she asked in a teasing manner.

"No, that's not it. You know, not completely."

"Very funny. So then what else is it about me that 'makes me stick out'?"

"Well, for one thing, I really do like you. And it actually seems like you're interested in me, and not just the kid who spent the better part of five years on a webshow. Plus you've grown up a lot since the party and your sister's play. That might sound a little weird for me to say since you're older than me, but it's true. You don't act like the same conceited, self-serving girl I met six years ago. It doesn't hurt that you're really hot too."

"Thanks. I'm glad that you feel that way. But I should say that you're not the only one who's impressed."

"Really? And what exactly is it that's got you so impressed with me?"

"Aside from you being really handsome? You're really smart, you're a nice guy, who's also a good listener. You're actually kind of funny, too."

"Glad somebody thinks so." Trina was about to ask why he would say that, but then she remembered from talking to him earlier that Carly and Sam had rarely, if ever, complimented him or shown any appreciation for who he was or what he did, and usually when other girls, and later, women, had done it, it was because they were interested in Freddie Benson, the tech producer of "iCarly", and not Freddie Benson the man.

"So, what are you gonna do about the women that you met last night?" Trina had asked, more out of general curiosity rather than any concern or jealousy.

"I'm not sure. My friends seemed pretty interested in them, so I guess I could try setting them up. Kind of like a one-man dating service."

"Haha, so you'll be Freddie Benson: graphic and web designer slash professional matchmaker."

"If it worked for the old man in the commercials, then why not me?" After some more laughing, then came the big question.

"Well, that's all figured out, but that still leaves us. So what are we gonna do?"

"How do I put this? I don't wanna make any promises about what's gonna happen between us, seeing as how we both have sketchy relationship experience. And with everything that's happened to you over the years, I definitely won't do that, because if things turn out bad, then that'll be one more thing that hurts you, and I don't wanna do that to you."

"Basically, you're saying we shouldn't be boyfriend and girlfriend," the waitress said, a slight tone of disappointment filling her voice.

"Well, no. Not just yet. I do wanna try and see where it goes though," the graphic/web designer stated. "Maybe we could date for a little while, and find out how much we really like each other. Then if we still want each other around, that's when we'll make it official."

A smile started growing onto Trina's face once she heard the last half of Freddie's statement. They weren't together yet, but he was giving her a chance to prove that she was girlfriend material, something that none of the other guys she liked had done.

"So when exactly do we start trying to see where it goes?"

"Well, we could start right now, first by having dinner, and then maybe by going another round in this bed."

"I like that plan. Let's go get some food." She stopped to kiss him before she got up from the bed. "You don't want me rocking your world again on an empty stomach."

"Yeah, you were good, but I think that your world was rocked more than mine."

"Well, we both wore each other out, how about that?"

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna order something to eat, and while we're waiting, I'm gonna get a shower." Once he ordered their dinner from The Grub Village, Freddie went into his bathroom and got into the shower. But in a matter of seconds, Trina joined him.

"You really think I was gonna watch you get in the shower and not wanna join you?" she asked with a scheming smile on her face.

"I was actually wondering what was taking you so long." Needless to say, they didn't have to wait to go another round.

**(The End.)**

**Author's Note: if you made it to this point, that means you actually put yourself through the torture of reading this thing the whole way through. So, what do you think?**


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